Accurate measurement of virtual image distance for near-eye displays based on auto-focusing

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are able to project virtual images to human eyes at a certain depth distance. This virtual image distance can be adjusted by controlling the diopter of the near-eye display. However, it is difficult to measure accurately and continuously since this virtual image distance spans a large range. In this work, we propose a method to accurately determine the virtual image distance of commercial VR/AR equipment. The measurement apparatus is built and calibrated to validate the feasibility. The focal distance of the focus-tunable lens can be automatically adjusted via a step motor by cooperating with the image sharpness analyzing program. Compared with other proposed methods, ours provides an effective means to achieve high accuracy, a wide and continuous testing range, and automatic evaluation of virtual image distance for compact near-eye displays. (c) 2022 Optica Publishing Group