Holographic waveguide light field displays

Abstract

A light field display, having at least one laser emitter, an optical modulator for modulating light from the laser emitter with video information; a beam focus modulator; an array of beam scanning elements; an electrically controllable beam focus modulator; and at least one at least one waveguide having at least one transparent substrate, an input grating and an output grating for extracting light from the waveguide; and an eye tracker.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIMS[0001]This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62 / 125,089 entitled HOLOGRAPHIC WAVEGUIDE LIGHT FIELD DISPLAYS filed on 12 Jan. 2015 and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62 / 125,066 entitled OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE DISPLAYS FOR INTEGRATION IN WINDOWS filed on 12 Jan. 2015, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entiretyCROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0002]The following patent applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties: U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,152 entitled HOLOGRAPHIC ILLUMINATION SYSTEM, U.S. Pat. No. 8,233,204 entitled OPTICAL DISPLAYS, PCT Application No.: US2006 / 043938, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A TRANSPARENT DISPLAY, PCT Application No.: PCT / GB2012 / 000680, entitled IMPROVEMENTS TO HOLOGRAPHIC POLYMER DISPERSED LIQUID CRYSTAL MATERIALS AND DEVICES, PCT Application No.: GB2012 / 000677 entitled WEARABLE DATA DISPLAY, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 317,468 entitled C...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a compact transparent light field display based on a holographic waveguide. The display includes a laser emitter, an optical modulator for modulating light from the laser emitter with video information, an electronically controllable beam focus modulator, and at least one electronically addressable beam scanning element for projecting the image-modulated light over a field of view. The eye tracker focuses the light onto an eye accommodation surface determined using the eye tracker. The beam scanning element addressed at any time is the one with an average direction vector closest to the gaze direction determined using the eye tracker. The display also includes a GRIN waveguide, a diffuser, and a lens array for forming a viewable image. The invention provides a more immersive and realistic viewing experience compared to traditional displays.

Problems solved by technology

However, current designs are bulky and lack the transparency required for applications such as augmented reality.

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