Facebook Technologies, LLC

Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC

Alireza Moheghi

Oleg Yaroshchuk

Douglas Robert Lanman

Jasmine Soria Sears

Andrew Maimone

Nathan Seigo Matsuda

Giuseppe Calafiore

Afsoon Jamali

Barry David Silverstein

Ying Geng

Lu Lu

Brian M Wheelwright

Yusufu Njoni Bamaxam Sulai

Hee Yoon Lee

Erik Shipton

Kavitha Ratnam

Peter Jasinski

Scott Charles McEldowney

Wai Sze Tiffany Lam

Mengfei Wang

Weichuan Gao

Gang Li

Justin Grimes

Nicholas Diorio

William Duncan

Kang Wei

An apparatus, system, and method for a see-through optical verification tester are described herein. In some aspects, a heating element such as a Peltier or Thermoelectric Cooler 'TEC' may be used to control a temperature of an optical element. In examples, the see-through optical transmission tester includes a see-through void and may control temperature, humidity, and pressure of an environmental enclosure to facilitate optical see-through and reflective tests.

Optical transmission tester

An apparatus, system, and method for an eye-tracking optical verification tester are described herein. In some aspects, a heating element such as a Peltier or Thermoelectric Cooler 'TEC' includes a see-through void and may be used to control a temperature of an eye-tracking optical element. An environmental enclosure that is configured to assist in simulation of an environmental condition may hold the eye-tracking optical element. The eye-tracking optical element is to receive reflected light from an eye-tracking target and direct the reflected light to an eye-tracking camera.

Eye-tracking optical verification tester

A device includes a waveguide, an in-coupling element, and an out-coupling element coupled with the waveguide. The waveguide, the in-coupling element, and the out-coupling element are configured to deliver a plurality of portions of an image light to an eye-box of the device. At least one of the in-coupling element or the out-coupling element includes a polarization selective diffractive element. The polarization selective diffractive element includes a grating including a plurality of microstructures defining a plurality of grooves filled with a passive optically anisotropic material having a first effective refractive index along a groove direction of the grooves and a second effective refractive index along an in-plane direction perpendicular to the groove direction. One of the first effective refractive index or the second effective refractive index substantially matches with a refractive index of the microstructures.

Device including diffractive optical element

An apparatus may include (1) a planar liquid-crystal structure including a plurality of liquid crystals, and (2) a plurality of electrodes coupled to the planar liquid-crystal structure such that (a) when a first plurality of voltages are applied to at least some of the plurality of electrodes, the plurality of liquid crystals are oriented such that the planar liquid-crystal structure operates as a diffraction grating having a first pitch, and (2) when a second plurality of voltages are applied to at least some of the plurality of electrodes, the plurality of liquid crystals are oriented such that the planar liquid-crystal structure operates as a diffraction grating having a second pitch different from the first pitch.

Variable-pitch liquid crystal diffraction grating

An optical device having suppressed rainbow effect is provided. The optical device includes a light source configured to generate an image light, an optical combiner coupled with the light source and configured to direct the image light to an eye-box of the optical device, and a dimming element disposed at the optical combiner. The optical combiner includes at least one diffractive element. The optical combiner has a first side facing the eye-box and an opposing second side facing a real world, and the dimming element is disposed at the second side of the optical combiner. The dimming element is configured to receive a light from the real world and significantly attenuate an intensity of the light having an incidence angle in a predetermined range.

Angularly selective dimming element, method of fabricating the same and optical device containing the same

A configurable occluder/dimmer for a near-eye display includes an array of polarization rotators and a polarization-selective scatterer downstream of the array of polarization rotators. The array of rotators and the polarization-selective scatterer are disposed between a pair of polarizers. The polarization-selective scatterer only scatters light at one of two orthogonal polarizations, thereby enhancing the achieved extinction ratio of the configurable occluder/dimmer. The configurable occluder/dimmer may be used in the near-eye display to provide occlusion effects rendering added virtual objects opaque, and/or to equalize contrast of the generated virtual imagery across the field of view of the display.

Occluder / dimmer based on polarization-selective scatterer and near-eye display containing same

An optical device includes a light source assembly configured to generate an image light; and at least one waveguide including an in-coupling element and an out-coupling element configured to transmit, via the at least one waveguide, a plurality of light fields of the image light to an eye-box of the optical device, in a time-multiplexing manner. At least one of the in-coupling element or the out-coupling element includes at least one switchable diffractive optical grating, which includes a surface relief grating (SRG) filled with an optically anisotropic material having a first principal refractive index along a groove direction of the SRG and a second principal refractive index along an in-plane direction perpendicular to the groove direction. One of the first and second refractive principal refractive indices substantially matches a refractive index of the SRG, and the other mismatches.

Switchable diffractive optical element and waveguide containing the same

A method to suppress a rainbow effect and an optical device thereof are provided. The method includes receiving, by a dimming element, a light from a real world. The method further includes attenuating, by the dimming element, an intensity of the light with a degree of attenuation growing with an incidence angle. The dimming element includes a liquid crystal (LC) dimming element.

A near eye display (NED) includes an electronic display configured to output image light. Further, the NED includes an eye tracking module and multiple optical elements that are combined to form an optical system to allow for changes in position of one or both eyes of a user of the NED. Various types of such optical elements, which may have optical states that are switchable, may be used to steer a light beam toward the user's eye. A direction of the steering may be based on eye tracking information measured by the eye tracking module.

Polarization-sensitive components in optical systems for large pupil acceptance angles

A display device includes a display having optically anisotropic molecules disposed between a front surface and a back surface. The display is configurable to either receive image light and diffuse the image light to output diffused image light from the front surface, or to transmit ambient light from the back surface to the front surface. The display device also includes an optical assembly that has a substrate, a reflector, and a beam splitter. The optical assembly is configurable to transmit a portion of the diffused image light at a first optical power via an optical path including reflections at the reflector and at the beam splitter and to transmit a portion of the ambient light output from the front surface of the display at a second optical power without reflection at the reflector. The second optical power is less than the first optical power.

Display device with switchable diffusive display and see-through lens assembly

A near-eye display based on a polarization-selective diffusive combiner includes a polarizer for polarizing impinging ambient light to have a first polarization state, and a polarization-selective scatterer downstream of the polarizer, for passing through the ambient light having the first polarization state substantially without scattering, while scattering impinging display light having a second polarization state orthogonal to the first polarization state. The display light at the second polarization state may be provided by a projector, the polarization-selective scatterer playing the role of a projector screen. A polarization-selective ocular lens may be disposed downstream of the polarization-selective scatterer for viewing images generated by the projector while propagating through orthogonally polarized light from outside environment.

Polarization-selective diffusive combiner and near-eye display based thereon

An example device may include an electronic display configured to generate an augmented reality image element and an optical combiner configured to receive the augmented reality image element along with ambient light from outside the device. The optical combiner may be configured to provide an augmented reality image having the augmented reality image element located within a portion of an ambient image formed from the ambient light. The device may also include a dimmer element configured to selectively dim the portion of the ambient image in which the augmented reality image element is located.

Apparatus, systems, and methods for display devices including local dimming

An apparatus may include a projector that switches from emitting monochromatic light of a first color to emitting monochromatic light of a second color that is different from the first color. The apparatus may also include one or more variable-pitch diffraction gratings that diffract monochromatic light emitted from the projector. The apparatus may further include a controller that changes a pitch of at least one of the one or more variable-pitch diffraction gratings from a first pitch used when the projector is emitting monochromatic light of the first color to a second pitch used when the projector is emitting monochromatic light of the second color.

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Bothell, WA, United States of America

Alireza Moheghi