To address the problem of the complex light source structure of a directional backlight in naked eye 3D display, a design and fabrication method for a kind of side-glowing plastic optical fiber (POF) array backlight is researched. An arrangement formula of the side-glowing POF array is obtained by analyzing the directional imaging optical path composed of side-glowing POF array and cylindrical micro-lens array. A kind of side-glowing POF array for directional backlight is fabricated and the crosstalk from the directional backlight is measured. The results show that the minimum crosstalk in the transverse regions of -200 mm to 200 mm is less than 1% at the optimal distance of 530 mm in the designed viewing area. Finally, the effects of cylindrical lens aberration, POF array optical fiber dislocation, and increasement of viewing angle on crosstalk degree of POF array directional backlight are analyzed.