2 | SD2420W
StereoMirror™ Technology
A StereoMirror
™
monitor consists of two AMLCD (Active Matrix Liquid Crystal
Display) units, oriented at a 110º angle and mounted on a specially designed
stand. A passive beamsplitter mirror bisects the angle formed between the
two monitors, and there is a fine mechanical adjustment for the mirror angle
between the two displays. One side of the glass mirror has a reflective
coating, and the other side has an anti-reflective coating to minimize
secondary reflections. The mirror has been treated with a hard top
coating to accommodate cleaning.
In general, the objective of a stereoscopic display is to efficiently present a
left eye image solely to the left eye while the right eye image is directed to
the right eye. This allows the human visual system to merge the two images
and results in the perception of depth, or stereopsis. In the StereoMirror
™
design this stereo
separation is
achieved using
the principle of
conservation of
polarization.
Liquid crystal
displays operate
based on the ability
of liquid crystal
material to
modulate plane-
polarized light.
The two AMLCDs in
the SD2420W
model have been manufactured so that the polarized light emitted from the
top monitor is 90° rotated from that of the bottom monitor. The image from
the lower monitor is seen through the mirror, as shown in the illustration
above. When stereo pair images from the two monitors are viewed through
crossed-polarizing glasses (glasses with polarizing films mounted on the
eyepieces with their planes of polarization at a right angle to one another),
the user only sees the left eye image with the eyepiece having the 90°-
oriented polarizer and the right eye image with the eyepiece having the 0°
polarizer. Light with a perpendicular polarization is not transmitted. The
result is a single, fused stereoscopic image.
Operating principle of the StereoMirror monitor
