Display system with local optical adjustment

Abstract

An electronic device such as a head mounted device may have a display that displays computer generated content to a user. The head mounted device may have an optical system that directs the computer generated content toward an eye box for viewing by the user. The optical system may include a spatially addressable adjustable optical component. The adjustable optical component may have a first electrode and a second electrode and an electrically adjustable material between the first electrode and the second electrode. The electrically adjustable material may include a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide, the transparent conductive material including a pattern of segmented grooves configured to provide electrical anisotropy to the transparent conductive material. Contacts may be coupled to the transparent conductive material. A control circuit may adjust the electrically adjustable material to form a spatially addressable light modulator or adjustable lens.

Description

[0001] This patent application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 849,164, filed on April 15, 2020, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 860,721, filed on June 12, 2019, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure generally relates to display systems with local optical adjustments. Background Art

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly to electronic devices having adjustable optical components.

[0004] Electronic devices sometimes include adjustable optical components. For example, a wearable electronic device such as a head-mounted device may include a display for displaying computer-generated content overlaid on real-world content. It may be desirable to place the adjustable optical component to coincide with the user's field of view. The adjustable optical component may be used, for example, to adjust the brightness of a real-world object when the user is viewing computer-generated content overlaid on top of the real-world object.

[0005] Challenges can arise when incorporating tunable optical components into electronic devices. For example, tunable optical components for head-mounted devices can be too bulky or too heavy. Some tunable optical components can exhibit diffraction effects or other undesirable effects that produce visible artifacts. Summary of the invention

[0006] The present disclosure provides an electronic device such as a head mounted device, which may have a display for displaying computer generated content for a user. The head mounted device may have an optical system that directs the computer generated image toward the eye box for viewing by the user.

[0007] The optical system may include a spatially addressable tunable optical component. The tunable optical component may be configured to form a spatially addressable light modulator or a tunable lens.

[0008] The tunable optical component may have a first electrode and a second electrode and an electrically tunable material between the first electrode and the second electrode. The electrically tunable material may include a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide, the transparent conductive material including a pattern of segmented grooves. The grooves may be configured to provide electrical anisotropy to the transparent conductive material so that the sheet resistance of the transparent conductive material is different in different directions. This allows the control circuit to spatially control the voltage on the tunable optical component.

[0009] The control circuit can provide a control signal to the adjustable optical component. The contact can be coupled to the transparent conductive material. The control circuit can adjust the electrically adjustable material by applying a signal to the contact during operation of the head mounted device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary electronic device such as a head-mounted display device according to an embodiment.

[0011] Figure 2 is a top view of an exemplary head mounted device according to an embodiment.

[0012] Figure 3 is a graph of visible light transmittance versus applied drive signal for a light modulator (eg, a guest-host liquid crystal device-based light modulator) according to an embodiment.

[0013] Figure 4 is a cross-sectional side view of an exemplary spatially addressable, tunable optical component according to an embodiment.

[0014] Figure 5 is a top view of an exemplary electrode layer in a spatially addressable, tunable optical component according to an embodiment.

[0015] Figure 6 is a top view of another exemplary electrode layer in a spatially addressable, tunable optical component according to an embodiment.

[0016] Figure 7 is a top view of an exemplary spatially addressable, tunable optical component according to an embodiment.

[0017] Figure 8 is a top view of an exemplary layer having electrical anisotropy according to an embodiment.

[0018] Fig. 9 is a top view of another exemplary layer having electrical anisotropy according to an embodiment.

[0019] Fig.10 and Fig.11 is a top view of an illustrative edge portion of a layer in a spatially addressable, tunable optical component according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The electronic device may include a display and other components for presenting content to a user. The electronic device may be a wearable electronic device. A wearable electronic device such as a head-mounted device may have a head-mounted support structure that allows the head-mounted device to be worn on the user's head.

[0021] The head-mounted device may include optical components such as a display for displaying visual content and spatially addressable adjustable optical components such as a spatially addressable light modulator (sometimes referred to as a spatially addressable adjustable dimming layer) or a spatially addressable liquid crystal lens (sometimes referred to as a tunable lens or a spatially addressable tunable lens).

[0022] The tunable optical component may have an electrically tunable material layer, such as a liquid crystal layer, sandwiched between a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer. By applying an electric field to selected contacts along the edges of the electrode layers, a desired electric field may be generated at a location of interest across the tunable material layer. To reduce diffraction artifacts and other undesirable visual artifacts that may be caused by strips of electrode material, the electrode layers may be formed from a transparent conductive layer that exhibits electrical anisotropy.

[0023] In some embodiments, the head mounted device may include a lens system including an adjustable lens and / or a fixed component (such as one or more fixed lenses). The adjustable lens system may be dynamically adjusted to accommodate different users and / or different operating conditions. An adjustable light modulator may be used to selectively darken portions of a user's field of view. For example, if the head mounted display system is being used to display computer generated content that is overlaid with a real world object, the brightness of the real world object may be selectively reduced to enhance the visibility of the computer generated content. Specifically, a spatially addressable adjustable light modulator may be used to generate a dark area overlaid with a bright real world object that is overlaid with computer generated content in the upper right corner of the user's field of view (for example).

[0024] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an exemplary system that may include an adjustable optical component is shown in FIG. Figure 1 As shown, system 8 may include one or more electronic devices such as electronic device 10. The electronic devices of system 8 may include computers, cellular phones, head-mounted devices, wristwatch devices, and other electronic devices. The configuration in which electronic device 10 is a head-mounted device is sometimes described herein as an example.

[0025] like Figure 1As shown, an electronic device such as electronic device 10 may have a control circuit 12. The control circuit 12 may include storage and processing circuits for controlling the operation of the device 10. The circuit 12 may include storage devices, such as hard disk drive storage devices, non-volatile memory (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory configured to form a solid-state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random access memory), etc. The processing circuits in the control circuit 12 may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processors, power management units, audio chips, graphics processing units, application-specific integrated circuits, and other integrated circuits. Software code may be stored on a storage device in the circuit 12 and run on processing circuits in the circuit 12 to implement control operations for the device 10 (e.g., data acquisition operations, operations involving the use of control signals to adjust components of the device 10, etc.). The control circuit 12 may include wired and wireless communication circuits. For example, the control circuit 12 may include radio frequency transceiver circuits, such as cellular telephone transceiver circuits, wireless local area network transceiver circuits, etc. transceiver circuitry, millimeter wave transceiver circuitry, and / or other wireless communication circuitry.

[0026] During operation, the communication circuitry of devices in system 8 (e.g., the communication circuitry of control circuitry 12 of device 10) can be used to support communication between electronic devices. For example, one electronic device can transmit video and / or audio data to another electronic device in system 8. Electronic devices in system 8 can use wired and / or wireless communication circuitry to communicate over one or more communication networks (e.g., the Internet, a local area network, etc.). The communication circuitry can be used to allow device 10 to receive data from and / or provide data to external equipment (e.g., a tethered computer, a portable device such as a handheld device or laptop computer, online computing equipment such as a remote server or other remote computing equipment, or other electrical equipment).

[0027] Device 10 may include input-output devices 22. Input-output devices 22 may be used to allow a user to provide user input to device 10. Input-output circuitry 22 may also be used to gather information about the environment in which device 10 operates. Output components in circuitry 22 may allow device 10 to provide output to a user, and may be used to communicate with external electrical equipment.

[0028] like Figure 1As shown, the input-output circuitry 22 may include one or more displays such as the display 14. In some configurations, the display 14 of the device 10 includes left and right display devices (e.g., left and right components, such as left and right scanning mirror display devices, liquid crystal on silicon display devices, digital mirror devices or other reflective display devices, left and right display panels based on light emitting diode pixel arrays (e.g., organic light emitting display panels, or display devices based on pixel arrays formed by crystalline semiconductor light emitting diode dies), liquid crystal display panels, and / or other left and right display devices aligned with the user's left and right eyes, respectively. In other configurations, the display 14 includes a single display panel that extends across both eyes or uses other arrangements in which content is provided with a single pixel array.

[0029] Display 14 is used to display visual content for a user of device 10. The content presented on display 14 may include virtual objects and other content provided to display 14 by control circuit 12, and may sometimes be referred to as computer-generated content. Computer-generated content may be displayed in the absence of real-world content, or may be combined with real-world content. In some configurations, a real-world image may be captured by a camera (e.g., a forward-facing camera) so that computer-generated content may be electronically overlaid on a portion of the real-world image (e.g., when device 10 is a pair of virtual reality goggles with an opaque display). In other configurations, an optical coupling system may be used to allow computer-generated content to be optically overlaid on top of a real-world image. As an example, device 10 may have a see-through display system that provides a computer-generated image to a user through a beam splitter, prism, holographic coupler, or other optical coupler while allowing the user to view real-world objects through the optical coupler.

[0030] The input-output device 22 may include a sensor 16. The sensor 16 may include, for example, a three-dimensional sensor (e.g., a three-dimensional image sensor such as a structured light sensor that emits a light beam and uses a two-dimensional digital image sensor to collect image data for a three-dimensional image from light points generated when a target is illuminated by the light beam, a binocular three-dimensional image sensor that uses two or more cameras in a binocular imaging arrangement to collect a three-dimensional image, a three-dimensional lidar (light detection and ranging) sensor, a three-dimensional radio frequency sensor, or other sensors that collect three-dimensional image data), a camera (e.g., an infrared and / or visible light digital image sensor), a gaze tracking sensor (e.g., a gaze tracking system based on an image sensor and, if necessary, a light source that emits one or more light beams). beam, which is tracked using an image sensor after reflecting from the user's eyes), touch sensors, buttons, capacitive proximity sensors, light-based (optical) proximity sensors, other proximity sensors, force sensors, sensors such as switch-based contact sensors, gas sensors, pressure sensors, humidity sensors, magnetic sensors, audio sensors (microphones), ambient light sensors, microphones for collecting voice commands and other audio inputs, sensors configured to collect information about motion, position and / or orientation (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses, and / or inertial measurement units including all of these sensors or a subset of one or both of these sensors), and / or other sensors.

[0031] User input and other information can be collected using sensors and other input devices in the input-output device 22. If desired, the input-output device 22 may include other devices 24 such as tactile output devices (e.g., vibrating components), light-emitting diodes and other light sources, speakers for producing audio output such as ear speakers, and other electronic components. The device 24 may include one or more adjustable optical components, such as spatially addressable adjustable optical components formed by electrode layers having transparent conductive materials that exhibit electrical anisotropy. The device 10 may include circuits for receiving wireless power, circuits for wirelessly transmitting power to other devices, batteries and other energy storage devices (e.g., capacitors), joysticks, buttons, and / or other components.

[0032] The electronic device 10 may have a housing structure (eg, housing walls, strips, etc.), such as Figure 126. In a configuration where the electronic device 10 is a head-mounted device (e.g., a pair of glasses, goggles, a helmet, a hat, etc.), the support structure 26 may include a head-mounted support structure (e.g., a helmet shell, a headband, temples in a pair of glasses, a goggle shell structure, and / or other head-mounted structures). The head-mounted support structure may be configured to be worn on the user's head during operation of the device 10 and may support the display 14, the sensor 16, other components 24, other input-output devices 22, and the control circuit 12.

[0033] Figure 2 2 is a top view of electronic device 10 in an exemplary configuration in which electronic device 10 is a head mounted device. Figure 2 As shown, the electronic device 10 may include a support structure (see, e.g. Figure 1 The apparatus 10 may include support structures 26 for use in housing components of the apparatus 10 and in placing the apparatus 10 on the user's head. These support structures may include, for example, structures that form the housing walls and other structures of the main unit (e.g., support structures 26-2), and additional structures such as straps, temples, or other supplemental support structures (e.g., support structures 26-1) that help hold the main unit and components in the main unit on the user's face so that the user's eyes are located within the eye boxes 60.

[0034] Display 14 may include left and right display portions (e.g., sometimes referred to as left and right displays, left and right display devices, left and right display components, or left and right pixel arrays). An optical system for device 10 may be formed by coupler 84 (sometimes referred to as an input coupler), waveguide 86, optical couplers (such as output coupler 88), lenses 80 and / or 82, and adjustable optical component 94. Figure 2 Adjustable optical component 94 is shown as being interposed between the front face of device 10 and lens 80. In general, adjustable optical component 94 may be located at any suitable location in device 10 (e.g., anywhere between components such as lens 80, output coupler 88, and lens 82). A user with an eye in eye box 60 may view real-world objects through adjustable optical component 94 and other components of the optical system while viewing overlaid computer-generated content from display 14. Adjustable optical component 94 may include an adjustable light modulator and / or an adjustable lens.

[0035] like Figure 2 As shown, the left portion of display 14 may be used to create an image for a left-hand eye box 60 (e.g., where the user's left eye views the left-hand image). The right portion of display 14 may be used to create an image for a right-hand eye box 60 (e.g., where the user's right eye views the right-hand image). Figure 2In a configuration of , the left and right portions of display 14 may be formed by respective left and right display devices (e.g., digital mirror devices, liquid crystal on silicon devices, scanning micro-electromechanical system mirror devices, other reflective display devices, or other displays). In an arrangement in which display 14 is opaque and prevents a user from directly viewing a real-world image, display 14 may be an organic light-emitting diode display, a liquid crystal display, or other display, and the optical coupler formed by waveguide 86 and output coupler 88 may be omitted.

[0036] exist Figure 2 In a see-through display arrangement of FIG. 1 , an optical coupler 84 (e.g., a prism, a hologram, etc.) may be used to couple respective left and right images from left and right display portions into respective left and right waveguides 86. The images may be guided within the waveguide 86 according to the principle of total internal reflection. In this way, the left and right images may be transmitted from the left and right sides of the device 10 toward a location in the center of the device 10 aligned with the left and right eye boxes 60. The waveguide 86 may be provided with respective left and right output couplers 88, such as a hologram formed on or in the material of the waveguide 86. The left and right output couplers 88 may couple the left and right images from the left and right waveguides 86 toward the left and right eye boxes 60, respectively, for viewing by the user.

[0037] In the exemplary arrangement, the tunable optical component 94 is a spatially addressable tunable light modulator formed using a material having an electrically tunable transmittance, such as a guest-host liquid crystal material. The material is characterized by a visible light transmittance Tvis that varies according to an applied voltage V (e.g., an AC peak-to-peak voltage), such as Figure 3 As shown in the curve 96. When the voltage amount on the material layer is less than the threshold voltage VT, the transmittance Tvis will be relatively high, and when the applied voltage amount is greater than the threshold voltage VT, the transmittance Tvis will be relatively low.

[0038] Figure 4 is a cross-sectional side view of component 94. Figure 4As shown in the exemplary configuration of , component 94 may have a first electrode layer (first electrode) 96 and a second electrode layer (second electrode) 106. Electrically tunable optical material 104 may be interposed between layers 96 and 106. Layer 96 may have a transparent substrate 102, a transparent conductive layer 100, and a series of contacts 98 along the perimeter of component 94. Contacts 98 are segmented and extend along the left and right edges of conductive layer 100 parallel to the X-axis and form electrical connections with different portions of layer 100. Layer 106 may have a transparent substrate 108, a transparent conductive layer 110, and contacts 112. Contacts 112 are segmented and extend along the leading edge (leaving the page edge) and trailing edge (entering the page edge) of layer 110 parallel to the Y-axis and form electrical connections with different portions of layer 110.

[0039] Transparent substrate layers 102 and 108 may be formed of glass, light-transmitting polymers, or other transparent materials. Transparent conductive layers 100 and 110 may be formed of indium tin oxide, silver nanowires, carbon nanotubes, and / or other transparent conductive materials. Layers 100 and 110 may be configured to exhibit electrical anisotropy. Specifically, layer 100 may be configured to exhibit a conductivity C100Y in the Y direction that is greater than its conductivity C100X in the X direction, and thus exhibit a sheet resistance in the Y direction that is less than its sheet resistance in the X direction. The sheet resistance value is finite (e.g., when a signal is applied along both sides of component 94, an electrical path exists in both the X and Y directions). The ratio of C100Y / C100X may be at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, less than 100, or other suitable values. Layer 110 may be configured to exhibit a conductivity C110X in the X direction that is greater than its conductivity C110Y in the Y direction, and thus exhibit a sheet resistance in the X direction that is less than its sheet resistance in the Y direction. The ratio of C110X / C110Y may be at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, less than 100, or other suitable values. Figure 4 The X and Y directions are orthogonal. If desired, the electrically anisotropic material can have a sheet resistance that is maximized and minimized along respective first and second directions that are different but not perpendicular to each other.

[0040] Figure 5 is a top view of electrode 96. Figure 5 As shown, a spatially varying voltage Vapplied can be applied to different contacts 98 on the edge of layer 110. Figure 5In the example of , a reduced Vapplied value is applied to the middle of the five pairs of contacts 98. The high conductivity (and low sheet resistance) of layer 100 in the Y direction relative to the X direction causes the reduced voltage to extend along the Y dimension without significantly extending in the X direction (due to the larger voltage drop experienced in the X direction due to the relatively high sheet resistance of layer 100 in the X direction). Therefore, the voltage V in layer 100 exhibits a drop, as shown by line 113 in the middle of layer 110. Figure 6 is a top view of the electrode 106. Figure 6 As shown, electrodes 112 can be used to provide a desired local voltage chain along a section of layer 110 extending parallel to the X-axis. Specifically, Vapplied can be locally higher in the middle of the five pairs of contacts 112 extending along the Y-axis. The high conductivity (and low sheet resistance) of layer 110 in the X-direction relative to the Y-direction causes the local increase in Vapplied to extend along the X dimension without significantly extending in the perpendicular Y-direction, so that the voltage V in layer 110 appears elevated in the middle of layer 110, as shown in FIG. Figure 6 The local increase in voltage in layer 110 along the Y direction is combined with the local decrease in voltage in layer 100 along the X direction to form a local area such as Figure 7 104, wherein the difference between the voltage in layer 110 and the voltage in layer 100 is reduced relative to the rest of the layer. In this example, the local variation results in a smaller voltage difference (and electric field difference across layer 104) than the rest of layer 104. If desired, the local variation may result in a locally larger (e.g., maximized) voltage difference (and electric field difference across layer 104 in the Z dimension) relative to the rest of layer 104.

[0041] During operation, the control circuit 12 can adjust the voltage Vapplied applied to the contacts of the component 94. By adjusting the location at which the voltage Vapplied varies in this manner (e.g., by providing appropriate voltages to the various sets of contacts 98 and contacts 112), the location of the locally adjusted voltage region (where the electric field through the electrically tunable optical material layer 104 is adjusted up or down relative to the rest of the layer 104) can be changed as desired (e.g., to place the local low transmittance region at a desired location relative to the light-transmissive portions of the layer 104) to adjust the optical power of the lens and / or the position of the lens in the XY plane, etc.

[0042] When it is desired to produce a localized change in light transmittance, layer 104 may be formed of a material such as a guest-host liquid crystal material that exhibits Figure 3104. When it is desired to produce a controllable localized change in the phase of light passing through layer 104 (e.g., to produce a dynamically adjustable lens), layer 104 can be formed of a liquid crystal material. A liquid crystal layer can change the phase of light traveling through the liquid crystal layer in proportion to the magnitude of an electric field applied across the layer (parallel to the Z dimension). When layer 104 is a liquid crystal layer, a lens can be formed in an area such as area 117 or other selected area, and the area (and its strength) can be adjusted by applying various voltages Vapplied to the contacts of component 94.

[0043] Using an exemplary configuration, layer 100 is formed of a blanket conductive film, such as a thin film coating of indium tin oxide, carbon nanotubes, silver nanowires, or other transparent conductive materials. The thickness of the film may be 0.1 micron to 0.5 micron, at least 0.01 micron, at least 0.05 micron, at least 0.1 micron, at least 0.4 micron, less than 100 microns, less than 10 microns, less than 1 micron, or other suitable thickness. The blanket film may or may not exhibit electrical anisotropy in its unpatterned state. In order to generate and / or enhance the electrical anisotropy of layer 100, layer 100 may be patterned by providing openings for layer 100. The openings represent portions of the layer that do not contain conductive material, thereby affecting the sheet resistance of the layer. By patterning the openings with an appropriate pattern, anisotropy of the sheet resistance of the layer may be achieved. By ensuring that the openings are small enough, the visibility of the openings to the user may be reduced or eliminated.

[0044] The opening may be, for example, an elongated segmented groove such as Figure 8 The grooves 116 may form segmented lines and staggered lines of columns extending along the Y dimension (eg, Figure 8 The trenches 116 may extend in the Y direction (e.g., in FIG. 1 ) and / or extend in segmented and staggered lines that form rows extending in the X dimension. In the trenches 116, there is no conductive material present, so the conductivity is low (e.g., zero) and the resistivity is high (e.g., infinite). Figure 8 The current flowing in the example of ) can be directed along a path between the corresponding columns, such as path 119. Figure 8 118). Current flowing in the example of FIG. 119 can only travel along tortuous indirect paths such as path 118. Because path 119 is shorter (in units of the Y dimension) than path 118 (in units of the X dimension), layer 100 has a greater conductivity along the Y dimension than the X dimension (and a lower sheet resistance along the Y dimension than the X dimension) (e.g., the sheet resistance of layer 100 exhibits anisotropy because patterned layer 100 has a lower sheet resistance along the Y dimension than the X dimension).

[0045] The grooves 116 may be relatively small in order to avoid producing undesirable visual artifacts. The electrical anisotropy (and the nature of visual artifacts) may be adjusted by adjusting the length of the grooves 116 along the Y dimension, the width of the grooves 116 along the X dimension, and the spacing between adjacent grooves 116 in the X and Y dimensions. For example, the length of the grooves 116 may be less than 65 microns (or less than 40 microns, less than 20 microns, or other suitable lengths) to ensure that the grooves 116 are not visible to the user of the device 10 during operation. Configurations in which the length of the grooves 116 is at least 20 microns, less than 500 microns, or other suitable lengths may also be used. The width of the grooves 116 may be about 2 microns (or at least 0.5 microns, less than 10 microns, or other suitable widths). The spacing between the grooves 116 in the X dimension may be about 8 microns to 125 microns, and the spacing between the grooves 116 in the Y dimension may be about 2 microns, at least 0.2 microns, less than 10 microns, 1 micron to 5 microns, or other suitable sizes.

[0046] exist Fig. 9 In the example of , W-shaped trenches 116 have been formed in layer 100, resulting in layer 100 having a greater sheet resistance in the Y dimension than in the X dimension (and a lesser conductivity in the Y dimension than in the X dimension). Fig. 9 The lines of the W-shaped grooves 116 may be separated from each other by a distance S of at least 5 microns, at least 20 microns, at least 25 microns, at least 65 microns, at least 125 microns, less than 500 microns, less than 300 microns, or other suitable distances. The width of each groove 116 may be at least 1 micron, less than 3 microns, 2 microns, or other suitable sizes. The gap G between adjacent W-shaped grooves 116 may be at least 2 microns, at least 3 microns, at least 5 microns, less than 25 microns, less than 20 microns, 10 microns to 20 microns, or other suitable distances. The half width L of each groove 116 may be at least 20 microns, less than 500 microns, or other suitable sizes. The cumulative length of each W-shaped groove may be 10 microns to 500 microns, at least 50 microns, less than 400 microns, less than 1000 microns, or other suitable lengths. The individual parts (line segments) of each W-shaped groove may be oriented at an angle of 45°, at least 25°, less than 70°, 30° to 60°, or other suitable angles relative to the X-direction and the Y-direction. By arranging the grooves 116 diagonally relative to the user's frame of reference, the ability of the user's eyes to discern the presence of the grooves 116 may be reduced, and thus undesirable visual artifacts due to the presence of the grooves 116 may be minimized.

[0047] If desired, the W-shaped grooves may have a curved shape that forms an undulating W shape, the grooves 116 may have an S shape or other curved shapes (e.g., other non-straight shapes), or may have any other shape with curved and / or straight portions. The S-shaped grooves and grooves having other shapes and the spacing between these grooves may be selected to help reduce the diffraction effects of light and / or visibility to a user. In general, the grooves 116 may have any shape and pattern that helps produce electrical anisotropy when expanding diffraction to prevent constructive interference and visual artifacts.

[0048] Contact 98 may be formed from a thin film metal coating that is patterned (e.g., using photolithography, etc.) on a blanket film that forms electrode layer 100. Contact 112 may also be formed from a patterned thin film metal layer on layer 110. Along the edges of component 94, there is the possibility of capacitive coupling across groove 116 (e.g., where an AC drive signal Vapplied is applied to component 94 to adjust the transmittance in the guest-host liquid crystal layer). This may result in undesirable parasitic power consumption. To help reduce or eliminate such power losses, groove 116 may be provided with a local widened portion adjacent to the contact. For example, in layer 100, groove 116 may be locally widened to form a local widened portion 120 adjacent to contact 98, as shown in FIG. Fig.10 and Fig.11 The width of the groove 116 may increase, for example, by at least 2 times, at least 5 times, 5 to 20 times, at least 10 times, less than 20 times, or other suitable amounts in the X direction, and the distance from the edge of the contact 98 in the Y direction may be at least 10 microns, at least 20 microns, 15 to 30 microns, less than 100 microns, or other suitable distances.

[0049] System 8 may collect and use personally identifiable information. As is known, the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0050] According to one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a spatially addressable adjustable optical component, comprising: a first electrode, the first electrode having a first sheet resistance along a first direction and a second sheet resistance along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the second sheet resistance being greater than the first sheet resistance; a second electrode, the first electrode having a third sheet resistance along the first direction and a fourth sheet resistance along the second direction, the fourth sheet resistance being less than the third sheet resistance; and an electrically adjustable optical material layer between the first electrode and the second electrode.

[0051] According to another embodiment, the electrically tunable optical material layer comprises a guest-host liquid crystal material configured to exhibit a change in visible light transmittance in response to a change in a voltage applied across the electrically tunable optical material layer using the first electrode and the second electrode.

[0052] According to another embodiment, the electrically tunable optical material layer comprises a transparent liquid crystal material configured to exhibit a change in the phase of light passing through the transparent liquid crystal material in response to a change in a voltage applied across the electrically tunable optical material layer using the first electrode and the second electrode.

[0053] According to another embodiment, the spatially addressable adjustable optical component includes a first group of contacts and a second group of contacts, the first group of contacts being coupled to relative first and second sides of the first electrode, the relative first and second sides being spaced apart along a first direction; and the second group of contacts being coupled to relative third and fourth sides of the second electrode, the relative third and fourth sides being spaced apart along a second direction.

[0054] According to another embodiment, the first electrode includes a transparent substrate coated with a transparent conductive coating having segmented grooves extending along a first direction.

[0055] According to another embodiment, the first electrode includes a transparent substrate coated with a transparent conductive coating, the transparent conductive coating having grooves having elongated portions oriented at an angle of 30° to 60° relative to the first direction.

[0056] According to another embodiment, the groove comprises a non-straight groove.

[0057] According to one embodiment, the present disclosure provides an electronic device, which includes: a display device, which is configured to display an image; and an optical system, which is configured to present the image to an eye box, the optical system including an adjustable optical component, through which a real-world object can be seen from the eye box, the adjustable optical component including: a first electrode, which is formed by a first transparent conductive layer on a first transparent substrate, the first transparent conductive layer including an opening, the opening being patterned to provide the first transparent conductive layer with a first sheet resistance along a first direction and a second sheet resistance along a second direction different from the first direction, the second sheet resistance being greater than the first sheet resistance; a second electrode, which is formed by a second transparent conductive layer on a second transparent substrate, the second transparent conductive layer including an opening, the opening being patterned to provide the second transparent conductive layer with a third sheet resistance along the first direction and a fourth sheet resistance along the second direction, the fourth sheet resistance being less than the third sheet resistance; and an electrically tunable optical material layer between the first electrode and the second electrode.

[0058] According to another embodiment, the opening is a segmented groove.

[0059] According to another embodiment, the segmented groove includes groove portions that are non-straight.

[0060] According to another embodiment, the segmented groove includes at least some groove portions oriented at an angle of 30° to 60° relative to the first direction.

[0061] According to another embodiment, the segmented grooves are separated from each other by gaps, and each groove has a length of less than 500 microns.

[0062] According to another embodiment, the first transparent conductive layer and the second transparent conductive layer include indium tin oxide.

[0063] According to another embodiment, the electrically tunable optical material layer comprises a guest-host liquid crystal material.

[0064] According to another embodiment, the layer of electrically tunable optical material comprises a liquid crystal material and the tunable optical component is configured to form an electrically tunable lens.

[0065] According to one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system comprising: a head-mounted support structure; a display device coupled to the head-mounted support structure, the display device configured to provide an image including computer-generated content; and an optical system comprising an adjustable optical component and providing the image to an eye box while allowing real-world objects to be viewed from the eye box through the adjustable optical component, the adjustable optical component comprising: a first electrode formed by a first transparent conductive layer on a first transparent substrate, the first transparent conductive layer comprising an opening, the opening being patterned The invention relates to a method for providing the first transparent conductive layer with a first sheet resistance along a first direction and a second sheet resistance along a second direction different from the first direction, wherein the second sheet resistance is greater than the first sheet resistance; a second electrode, the second electrode being formed by a second transparent conductive layer on a second transparent substrate, the second transparent conductive layer comprising an opening, the opening being patterned to provide the second transparent conductive layer with a third sheet resistance along the first direction and a fourth sheet resistance along the second direction, wherein the fourth sheet resistance is less than the third sheet resistance; and an electrically tunable optical material layer between the first electrode and the second electrode.

[0066] According to another embodiment, the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction and the opening comprises a groove having a length less than 500 microns.

[0067] According to another embodiment, the trench has a width of 0.5 micrometers to 20 micrometers.

[0068] According to another embodiment, the first transparent conductive layer and the second transparent conductive layer include indium tin oxide.

[0069] According to another embodiment, the electrically tunable optical material layer comprises a liquid crystal material, and the first electrode comprises a first set of metal contacts coupled to the first transparent conductive layer, the second electrode comprises a second set of metal contacts coupled to the second transparent conductive layer, and the groove has a local widened portion adjacent to the contacts.

[0070] The foregoing is merely exemplary and various modifications may be made to the embodiments described. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented independently or in any combination.

Claims

1. A spatially addressable and tunable optical component, comprising: a first electrode having a first sheet resistance along a first direction and a second sheet resistance along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the second sheet resistance being greater than the first sheet resistance; a second electrode having a third sheet resistance along the first direction and a fourth sheet resistance along the second direction, the fourth sheet resistance being less than the third sheet resistance; as well as An electrically tunable optical material layer is interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein a region of the electrically tunable optical material layer overlapping the first electrode and the second electrode is configured to form a lens in response to a voltage applied to the region of the electrically tunable optical material layer using the first electrode and the second electrode, and wherein the lens power of the lens and / or the position at which the lens is formed in the electrically tunable optical material layer can be adjusted based on a change in the applied voltage.

2. The spatially addressable, tunable optical component of claim 1 , wherein the electrically tunable optical material layer comprises a guest-host liquid crystal material, the guest-host liquid crystal material being configured to exhibit a change in visible light transmittance in response to a change in a voltage applied across the electrically tunable optical material layer using the first electrode and the second electrode.

3. The spatially addressable, tunable optical component of claim 1 , wherein the electrically tunable optical material layer comprises a transparent liquid crystal material, the transparent liquid crystal material being configured to exhibit a change in the phase of light passing through the transparent liquid crystal material in response to a change in a voltage applied across the electrically tunable optical material layer using the first electrode and the second electrode.

4. The spatially addressable, tunable optical component of claim 1 , further comprising: a first set of contacts coupled to opposing first and second sides of the first electrode, wherein the opposing first and second sides are spaced apart along the first direction; as well as A second set of contacts is coupled to opposing third and fourth sides of the second electrode, wherein the opposing third and fourth sides are spaced apart along the second direction.

5. The spatially addressable, tunable optical component of claim 1, wherein the first electrode comprises a transparent substrate coated with a transparent conductive coating, the transparent conductive coating having segmented grooves extending along the first direction.

6. The spatially addressable, tunable optical component of claim 1 , wherein the first electrode comprises a transparent substrate coated with a transparent conductive coating, the transparent conductive coating having grooves having elongated portions oriented at an angle of 30° to 60° relative to the first direction.

7. The spatially addressable, tunable optical component of claim 6, wherein the grooves comprise non-straight grooves.

8. An electronic device comprising: A display device, the display device being configured to display an image; as well as an optical system configured to present the image to an eye box, wherein the optical system comprises an adjustable optical component through which a real-world object can be viewed from the eye box, the adjustable optical component comprising: a first electrode formed of a first transparent conductive layer on a first transparent substrate, wherein the first transparent conductive layer includes an opening, the opening being patterned to provide the first transparent conductive layer with a first sheet resistance along a first direction and a second sheet resistance along a second direction different from the first direction, the second sheet resistance being greater than the first sheet resistance; a second electrode formed of a second transparent conductive layer on a second transparent substrate, wherein the second transparent conductive layer includes an opening patterned to provide the second transparent conductive layer with a third sheet resistance along the first direction and a fourth sheet resistance along the second direction, the fourth sheet resistance being less than the third sheet resistance; and An electrically tunable optical material layer is interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein a region of the electrically tunable optical material layer overlapping the first electrode and the second electrode is configured to form a lens in response to a voltage applied to the region of the electrically tunable optical material layer using the first electrode and the second electrode, and wherein the lens power of the lens and / or the position at which the lens is formed in the electrically tunable optical material layer can be adjusted based on a change in the applied voltage. 9 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the openings of the first transparent conductive layer and the second transparent conductive layer comprise segmented grooves.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the segmented groove includes a non-straight groove portion.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the segmented groove comprises at least some groove portions oriented at an angle of 30° to 60° relative to the first direction.

12. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the segmented trenches are separated from one another by gaps, and wherein each trench has a length of less than 500 microns. 13 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the first transparent conductive layer and the second transparent conductive layer comprise indium tin oxide.

14. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the layer of electrically tunable optical material comprises a guest-host liquid crystal material.

15. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the layer of electrically tunable optical material comprises a liquid crystal material, and wherein the tunable optical component is configured to form an electrically tunable lens.

16. A system comprising: Head-mounted support structure; a display device coupled to the head mounted support structure, the display device configured to provide an image including computer generated content; as well as An optical system comprising an adjustable optical component and providing the image to an eye box while allowing a real-world object to be viewed from the eye box through the adjustable optical component, wherein the adjustable optical component comprises: a first electrode formed of a first transparent conductive layer on a first transparent substrate, wherein the first transparent conductive layer includes an opening, the opening being patterned to provide the first transparent conductive layer with a first sheet resistance along a first direction and a second sheet resistance along a second direction different from the first direction, the second sheet resistance being greater than the first sheet resistance; a second electrode formed of a second transparent conductive layer on a second transparent substrate, wherein the second transparent conductive layer includes an opening patterned to provide the second transparent conductive layer with a third sheet resistance along the first direction and a fourth sheet resistance along the second direction, the fourth sheet resistance being less than the third sheet resistance; and An electrically tunable optical material layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein a region of the electrically tunable optical material layer overlapping the first electrode and the second electrode is configured to form a lens in response to a voltage applied to the region of the electrically tunable optical material layer using the first electrode and the second electrode, and wherein the lens power of the lens and / or the position at which the lens is formed in the electrically tunable optical material layer can be adjusted based on a change in the applied voltage.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction, and wherein the openings of the first transparent conductive layer and the second transparent conductive layer comprise grooves having a length less than 500 microns.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the trench has a width of 0.5 microns to 20 microns.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first transparent conductive layer and the second transparent conductive layer comprise indium tin oxide.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the electrically tunable optical material layer comprises a liquid crystal material, wherein the first electrode comprises a first set of metal contacts coupled to the first transparent conductive layer, and the second electrode comprises a second set of metal contacts coupled to the second transparent conductive layer, and wherein the groove has a local widened portion adjacent to the contacts.

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