Ryuji Hirayama, Hirotaka Nakayama, Atsushi Shiraki, Takashi Kakue, Tomoyoshi Shimobaba, and Tomoyoshi Ito, Optics Express 27(20), 27637–27648 (2019) [Paper link].

We present a new refraction-based approach to embed multiple images into a single volume structure rendered on a glass solid (3D crystal). Each of the images can only be revealed when looked at from the certain viewpoint. While configurations of viewing directions in conventional methods are limited, our method can compensate for refractive effects at glass surfaces regardless of the viewing directions and enable the viewing directions to be set more flexibly, even allowing for 180° opposite projection by leveraging refraction. These unique features are verified with prototyping of 3D crystals projecting multiple grey-scale images and numerical assessments. In addition, we present a color dynamic representation of our method with computer graphics to demonstrate the potential use of our method as a novel information service system.