Facebook Technologies, LLC

Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC

Babak Amirsolaimani

Ying Geng

Brian M Wheelwright

Yusufu Njoni Bamaxam Sulai

Jacques Gollier

Scott Charles McEldowney

Weichuan Gao

Lu Lu

Andrew John Ouderkirk

Fenglin Peng

Yun-Han Lee

Mengfei Wang

Wanli Chi

Junren Wang

Gang Li

Giuseppe Calafiore

Barry David Silverstein

Robin Sharma

Pasi Saarikko

Maxwell Parsons

Wai Sze Tiffany Lam

Alexander Koshelev

Hee Yoon Lee

Stephan Lutgen

Tanya Malhotra

Andrew Maimone

Ningfeng Huang

Yang Yang

David Massoubre

Daniel Guenther Greif

Hannah D Noble

Adrian Travis

Renate Eva Klementine Landig

Gregory Olegovic Andreev

Zhimin Shi

Garam Young

Yingfei Jiang

Sihui He

Xiayu Feng

Nicholas John Diorio, Jr

Jacques Gollier, Jr

Francois Olivier

Francois Gerard Franck Olivier

Shizhe Shen

Oleg Yaroshchuk

Spencer Allan Wells

Dong Chen

Kieran Connor Kelly

Mohamed Tarek El-Haddad

Miaomiao Xu

Francesco Larocca

Hannah Noble

Mohamed Tarek Ahmed El-Haddad

Yimin Ding

Scott Charles Mceldowney

Junjie Hu

A switchable grating may be used to redirect illuminating light for illuminating a user's eye in an eye tracking system, to facilitate the determination of eye position and/or orientation. The eye tracking system may be used in a near-eye display. An eye tracking camera obtains an eye image, and a controller performs an initial determination of the eye position. The controller may switch the switchable grating to direct the illuminating light beam onto the eye, for a better position and/or eye orientation determination.

Eye tracking with switchable gratings

A wearable display device includes a light source, a beam scanner, a pupil-replicating lightguide, and a detector. The light source is configured to emit an image beam and a ranging beam. The beam scanner co-scans both beams. The image beam is used to form an image in angular domain for displaying to a user of the wearable display device, and a ranging beam is used to scan outside environment at the same time. Light reflected from objects in the outside environment is detected by the detector, and a 3D map of the outside environment is built using time-of-flight measurements of the reflected signal and/or triangulation. For triangulation measurements, the detector may include a digital camera.

3D mapping in 2D scanning display

An optical assembly includes a partial reflector that is optically coupled with a first polarization volume holographic element. The partial reflector is capable of receiving first light having a first circular polarization and transmitting a portion of the first light having a first circular polarization. The first polarization volume holographic element is configured to receive the first portion of the first light and reflect the first portion of the first light as second light having the first circular polarization. The partial reflector is capable of receiving the second light and reflecting a first portion of the second light as third light having a second circular polarization opposite to the first polarization. The first polarization volume holographic element is configured to receive the third light having the second circular polarization and transmit the third light having the second circular polarization.

Optical assembly with polarization volume holographic element

A device includes a display configured to generate an image light. The device also includes a waveguide optically coupled with the display and configured to guide the image light to an exit pupil of the device. The waveguide includes a grating including a birefringent material, and a birefringence of the grating is configured to increase along a pupil-expanding direction of the device.

Optical combiner with uniform illuminance throughput

A varifocal ocular lens is disclosed. The varifocal ocular lens is based on a pancake lens having a polarization-folded optical path formed by two reflectors, e.g. one polarization-selective reflector and one partial reflector. By placing at least one of the reflectors onto a flexible deformable membrane, the shape e.g. radius of curvature and/or cylindricity of the reflector(s) may be dynamically changed to vary focal length and/or astigmatism of the ocular lens. Viewer's visual prescription and eye vergence may be dynamically and/or statically accommodated by the varifocal lens.

Tunable lens with deformable reflector

A beam scanner and a display device is based on a photonic integrated circuit coupling light to a pair of opposed reflectors. One reflector is tiltable and has an opening through which the light is coupled, and the other reflector is configured to focus light, e.g. a concave reflector. A polarization folding configuration is used to cause the focused light propagate through the opening in the first reflector, get collimated by the second reflector, get scanned by the first reflector, and propagate through the second reflector to a pupil-replicating lightguide which provides multiple laterally offset parallel portions of the scanned beam.

Beam scanner with PIC input and display based thereon

Image light is generated with a display light source. The image light is visible. An infrared light source emits infrared light. A scan directs the image light and the infrared light to an input coupler of a display waveguide and the display waveguide presents the image light to an eyebox region as a virtual image.

Scanning display with eye-tracking

A lens may include optically anisotropic molecules arranged in helical structures. The lens may include a first portion, a second portion located around the first portion, and a third portion located around the second portion. The first portion may include a first helical structure having a first helical pitch. The second portion may include a second helical structure having a second helical pitch distinct from the first helical pitch. The third portion may include a third helical structure having a third helical pitch distinct from the first helical pitch and the second helical pitch. The second helical pitch may have a length that is between a length of the first helical pitch and a length of the third helical pitch.

Polarization volume hologram lens

A near-eye display has an image projector coupled to a lightguide for receiving and propagating image light provided by the image projector, the image light carrying an image to be displayed to a viewer. Field of view of the near-eye display may be expanded by providing a beam redirector downstream of the lightguide for controllably redirecting the image light in coordination with displaying different field of view portions by the image projector. To compensate the redirection of external light by the beam redirector, a second beam redirector may be provided upstream of the first redirector and the lightguide.

Field of view expansion by image light redirection

An optical assembly a substrate having a first surface and a second surface that is opposite to and substantially parallel with the first surface. The first surface has a first curved profile and the second surface has a second curved profile. The optical assembly also includes a beam splitter on the first surface and a reflector on the second surface. The optical assembly is configured to transmit image light received at the first surface in an optical path that includes reflection at each of the reflector and the beam splitter before the image light is output from the second surface. The optical assembly is also configured to transmit ambient light received at the first surface such that the second light is output from the second surface without undergoing reflection at either the reflector or the beam splitter. A method of transmitting light through the optical assembly is also disclosed.

Curved see-through pancake lens assembly and display device including the same

An optical system includes an optical waveguide, and a first optical element configured to direct a first ray, having a first circular polarization and impinging on the first optical element at a first incidence angle, in a first direction so that the first ray propagates through the optical waveguide via total internal reflection toward a second optical element. The first optical element is configured to also direct a second ray, having a second circular polarization that is distinct from the first circular polarization and impinging on the first optical element at the first incidence angle, in a second direction that is distinct from the first direction so that the second ray propagates away from the second optical element. The second optical element is configured to direct the first ray propagating through the optical waveguide toward a detector.

Eye tracking based on waveguide imaging

A system includes a diffractive optical element including at least one substrate and a grating structure. The grating structure is configured to diffract a first light having an incidence angle within a predetermined range, and the at least one substrate is configured to reflect a second light. The system also includes a polarization selective mechanism configured to generate images based on the first light and the second light, respectively.

Optical system for multi-view eye-tracking

A system is provided. The system includes a first PVH layer configured to deflect a first polarized light having a first handedness. The system includes a second PVH layer coupled to the first PVH layer and configured to deflect a second polarized light having a second handedness opposite to the first handedness. The system includes an optical sensor configured to generate a first image based on the first polarized light deflected by the first PVH layer and generate a second image based on the second polarized light deflected by the second PVH layer.

Optical system with polarization volume hologram

A display device includes an optical diffuser configured to, in response to receiving image light, output diffused image light having a same polarization as the image light. The optical diffuser is also configured to transmit ambient light. The display device also includes an optical assembly that includes a substrate, a reflector coupled to the substrate, and a beam splitter coupled to the substrate. The optical assembly is configured to transmit the diffused image light at a first optical power by reflecting the diffused image light at the reflector and at the beam splitter and to transmit the transmitted ambient light at a second optical power that is less than the first optical power without reflection at the reflector or the beam splitter. A method for transmitting light through the display device is also disclosed.

Display device with holographic diffuser display and see-through lens assembly

A pupil-replicating lightguide includes a slab of transparent material, a switchable out-coupling grating for out-coupling portions of image light to propagate towards an eyebox, and a switchable tracking grating for redirecting tracking light carrying an eye image towards an eye tracking camera. One of the two gratings may be turned ON while the other is turned OFF, in a time-sequential manner, allowing the combined use of the pupil-replicating lightguide for carrying image light and eye tracking light.

Growing community of inventors

Redmond, WA, United States of America

Babak Amirsolaimani