Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC

Facebook Technologies, LLC

Guohua Wei

Qi Zhang

Karol Constantine Hatzilias

Andrew John Ouderkirk

Yu Shi

Matthew E Colburn

Maik Andre Scheller

Jasmine Soria Sears

Matthieu Charles Raoul Leibovici

Nathan Seigo Matsuda

Christopher Yuan-Ting Liao

John Goward

Christophe Antoine Hurni

Tamer Elazhary

Joseph S Corry

Nicholas McGee

Michiel Koen Callens

Michael Anthony Hall

Robin Sharma

Sheng Ye

Tanya Malhotra

Maxwell Parsons

Andrew Maimone

Oleg Yaroshchuk

Christopher Yuan Ting Liao

Zhaoming Zhu

Erik Shipton

Tingling Rao

Arman Boromand

Gregory Olegovic Andreev

Lafe Joseph Purvis, Ii

Zihe Gao

Yingfei Jiang

Kimberly Kay Childress

Poer Sung

Yun Wang

Shin-Tson Wu

Yuqiang Ding

Fenglin Peng

Zhenyi Luo

Shane Colburn

A display waveguide is configured to direct a first portion of display light to an eye along a first optical path. A disparity waveguide is configured to direct a second portion of the display light to a disparity sense circuit along a second optical path separated from the first optical path.

Waveguide disparity sensing

Systems and methods to improve efficiency of in-coupling into, propagating through, and out-coupling from, electromagnetic waves (e.g., in a visible light wavelength range), a waveguide system arrangement. The waveguide system arrangement includes an illumination assembly; an in-coupler, a waveguide substrate, and a parallelepiped prisms array structure, which efficiently couple electromagnetic waves (e.g., in a visible light wavelength range), horizontally propagating through the waveguide substrate, and the parallelepiped prisms array structure out-couples the electromagnetic waves (e.g., in a visible light wavelength range), from the waveguide substrate. In one implementation, the waveguide system arrangement includes an augmented reality display system and the out-coupled light provides a virtual image that is overlaid on an image of a real object with both images seen by a viewer's eye. An ultracompact liquid-crystal on silicon (LCoS) display system is also disclosed. The LCoS display system exhibits excellent light uniformity, optical efficiency, and contrast ratio.

Ultracompact liquid-crystal-on-silicon display system

Outcoupling elements are disposed with a transparent layer. A transparent waveguide structure receives non-visible light and delivers the non-visible light to the outcoupling elements. The outcoupling elements outcouple the non-visible light as non-visible illumination light.

Waveguide structure and outcoupling elements

A system comprising (1) at least one optical element having a nonplanar surface, (2) at least one photonic integrated circuit disposed on the nonplanar surface of the optical element, the photonic integrated circuit comprising (A) an optical core that contains an optically anisotropic organic material and (B) a cladding disposed over the optical core. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

Apparatus, system, and method for disposing photonic integrated circuits on surfaces

A near-eye optical assembly includes a display waveguide and an optical structure. The display waveguide is configured to receive display light and to direct the display light to an eye of a user. The optical structure includes an input coupler, an optical path, and an output coupler. The input coupler is disposed to receive a portion of the display light that propagates through the waveguide. The optical path directs the portion of the display light from the input coupler to an output coupler that is configured to provide the received portion of the display light to a disparity sense circuit.

Active disparity sensing of head mounted display

A device includes a light source, a waveguide layer, and a light director layer. The light source emits illumination light. The waveguide layer includes a cladding layer and an optical waveguide. The cladding layer provides a top planar surface of the waveguide layer and the optical waveguide is immersed in the cladding layer and includes a light input coupler. The light director layer includes a bottom planar surface that is disposed on the top planar surface of the waveguide layer. The light director layer also includes a light director that receives and directs the illumination light to the light input coupler as shaped light. The light director is configured to tilt the illumination light to give the shaped light a tilt angle with respect to the light input coupler.

Coupling light source to photonic integrated circuit

An example device may include a light source, an optical element, and, optionally, an encapsulant layer. A light beam generated by the light source may be received by the optical element and redirected towards an illumination target, such as an eye of a user. The optical element may include a material, for example, with a refractive index of at least approximately 2 at a wavelength of the light beam. The light source may be a semiconductor light source, such as a light-emitting diode or a laser. The optical element may be supported by an emissive surface of the light source. Refraction at an exit surface of the optical element, and/or within a metamaterial layer, may advantageously modify the beam properties, for example, in relation to illuminating a target. In some examples, the light source and optical element may be integrated into a monolithic light source module.

Optical elements for beam-shaping and illumination

An optical element includes a transparent layer, outcoupling elements, and a waveguide structure. The outcoupling elements are positioned across the transparent layer. The waveguide structure provides non-visible light to the outcoupling elements and the outcoupling elements outcouple the non-visible light as non-visible illumination light to illuminate an eye region.

Transparent illumination layer with transparent waveguide structure

A device or system includes a light source, an optical waveguide, and a light director. The light source emits illumination light. The optical waveguide includes a light input coupler. The light director receive the illumination light and generates shaped light. The light director adjusts the tilt angle and/or the divergence angle of the illumination light.

A photonic integrated circuit assembly generates light for use in a display system or a depth sensing system. The photonic integrated circuit assembly includes optical conditioning elements integrated into a photonic integrated circuit. The photonic integrated circuit includes one or more light sources on the photonic integrated circuit. The photonic integrated circuit includes a waveguide and one or more gratings located in a core of the photonic integrated circuit. The gratings may collimate and/or collocate light emitted by the light source. The photonic integrated circuit may include a beam shaping element integrated into the photonic integrated circuit. A MEMS scanner may use the collocated and/or collimated light emitted by the photonic integrated circuit to generate a display for a user or to generate a structured light pattern for use in a depth sensing system.

Photonic integrated circuits with integrated optical conditioning elements

A device includes an optical assembly and a digital projector. The optical assembly is configured to receive visible scene light at a backside of the optical assembly and to direct the visible scene light on an optical path toward an eyeward side. The optical assembly includes a dimming layer disposed on the optical path. The dimming layer includes a photochromic material that is configured to darken in response to exposure to a range of light wavelengths. The digital projector is disposed on the eyeward side of the optical assembly and is configured to selectively emit an activation light within the range of light wavelengths to activate a darkening of a region of the dimming layer to dim the visible scene light within the region.

Digital projector for local dimming in a device

An optical assembly is configured to receive visible scene light at a backside of the optical assembly and to direct the visible scene light on an optical path toward the eyeward side. The optical assembly also includes a dimming layer disposed on the optical path, where the dimming layer includes a photochromic material that is configured to darken in response to exposure to a range of light wavelengths. An activation layer, included in the optical assembly, is also disposed on the optical path and includes an in-field dimmer. The in-field dimmer is configured to selectively emit an activation light within the range of light wavelengths to activate a darkening of a region of the dimming layer to dim the visible scene light within the region.

Local dimming in a device

A tunable liquid crystal (LC) device includes an LC layer between a pair of reflectors forming an optical cavity. The reflectors include conductive layers for applying an electrical signal to the LC layer. One of the conductive layers may include an array of conductive pixels for spatially selective control of the effective refractive index of the LC layer. The phase delay introduced by the LC layer may be greatly increased or magnified by placing the LC layer into the optical cavity. This enables a substantial reduction of the LC layer thickness, which in its turn enables very tight pitches of the LC pixels, with a reduced inter-pixel crosstalk caused by fringing electric fields, as well as faster switching times. A tight-pitch, fast LC device may be used as a configurable hologram or a spatial light modulator.

Resonant liquid crystal devices

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Guohua Wei