Magic Leap, Inc.

Applied Materials, Inc.

Kevin Messer

Samarth Bhargava

Victor Kai Liu

Frank Y Xu

Vikramjit Singh

Shuqiang Yang

Kang Luo

Michael Anthony Klug

Xiaopei Deng

Clinton Carlisle

Vaibhav Mathur

Chulwoo Oh

Michael Nevin Miller

Ravi Kumar Komanduri

Michal Beau Dennison Vaughn

Kevin R Curtis

Christophe Peroz

Hui-Chuan Cheng

Robert D TeKolste

David Manly

Jeffrey Dean Schmulen

Marlon Edward Menezes

Neal Paul Ricks

Joshua Naaman Haddock

David Alexander Sell

Matthew Grant Dixon

Robert Dale Tekolste

Bradley Jay Sissom

Ioannis Papadopoulos

Xiao Li

Ludovic Godet

Rami Hourani

Robert Blake Taylor

Daihua Zhang

Yingdong Luo

Miller Harry Schuck, Iii

Marshall Charles Capps

Nukul Sanjay Shah

Brandon Michael-James Born

Qizhen Xue

Po-Kang Huang

Zhengping Yao

Jingyi Yang

Nicholas Ihle Morley

Yingnan Liu

Matthew C Traub

Kevin Richard Curtis

Waveguides comprising materials with refractive index greater than or equal to 1.8 and methods of patterning waveguides are disclosed. Patterned waveguides comprising materials with refractive index greater than or equal to 1.8 can be incorporated in display devices, such as, for example wearable display devices to project virtual images to a viewer. A waveguide may be transparent and may comprise a substrate comprising a first material having a first refractive index greater than about 2.0. Diffractive features may be formed, on the substrate, of a second material having a second refractive index that is lower than the first refractive index. A third material may be disposed over the diffractive features and may have a third refractive index that is higher than the second refractive index.

Waveguides with high index materials and methods of fabrication thereof

Techniques for artifact mitigation in an optical system are disclosed. Light associated with a world object is received at the optical system, which is characterized by a world side and a user side. Light associated with a virtual image is projected onto an eyepiece of the optical system, causing a portion of the light associated with the virtual image to propagate toward the user side and light associated with an artifact image to propagate toward the world side. A dimmer of the optical system positioned between the world side and the eyepiece is adjusted to reduce an intensity of the light associated with the artifact image impinging on the dimmer and an intensity of the light associated with the world object impinging on the dimmer.

Eyepiece architecture incorporating artifact mitigation

Very high refractive index (n>2.2) lightguide substrates enable the production of 70° field of view eyepieces with all three color primaries in a single eyepiece layer. Disclosed herein are viewing optics assembly architectures that make use of such eyepieces to reduce size and cost, simplifying manufacturing and assembly, and better-accommodating novel microdisplay designs.

Very high index eyepiece substrate-based viewing optics assembly architectures

An augmented reality display system can include a first eyepiece waveguide with a first input coupling grating (ICG) region. The first ICG region can receive a set of input beams of light corresponding to an input image having a corresponding field of view (FOV), and can in-couple a first subset of the input beams. The first subset of input beams can correspond to a first sub-portion of the FOV. The system can also include a second eyepiece waveguide with a second ICG region. The second ICG region can receive and in-couple at least a second subset of the input beams. The second subset of the input beams can correspond to a second sub-portion of the FOV. The first and second sub-portions of the FOV can be at least partially different but together include the complete FOV of the input image.

Eyepieces for augmented reality display system

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods for forming a waveguide. Methods may include measuring a waveguide substrate, the waveguide having a substrate thickness distribution; and depositing an index-matched layer onto a surface of the waveguide, the index-matched layer having a first surface disposed on the waveguide substrate and a second surface opposing the first surface, wherein the index-matched layer is disposed only over a portion of the waveguide substrate, and a device slope of a second surface of the index-matched layer is substantially the same as the waveguide slope of the first surface of the waveguide.

Total or local thickness variation for optical devices

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to augmented reality waveguide combiners. The waveguides includes a waveguide substrate, having a substrate refractive index (RI) n, a slab waveguide layer disposed over the waveguide substrate, the slab waveguide layer having a slab RI nand a slab depth d, the slab depth dfrom a lower surface to an upper surface of the slab waveguide layer, at least one grating defined by a plurality of grating structures, the grating structures are disposed in, on, or over the slab waveguide layer, and a superstrate between and over the grating structures, the superstrate having a superstrate RI nand an interface with the slab waveguide layer. The slab RI nis greater than the substrate RI nand the slab RI nis greater than the superstrate RI n.

Slab waveguide layer for enhanced near-eye-display surface relief grating lightguide

An eyepiece waveguide for an augmented reality display system. The eyepiece waveguide can include an input coupling grating (ICG) region. The ICG region can couple an input beam into the substrate of the eyepiece waveguide as a guided beam. A first combined pupil expander-extractor (CPE) grating region can be formed on or in a surface of the substrate. The first CPE grating region can receive the guided beam, create a first plurality of diffracted beams at a plurality of distributed locations, and out-couple a first plurality of output beams. The eyepiece waveguide can also include a second CPE grating region formed on or in the opposite surface of the substrate. The second CPE grating region can receive the guided beam, create a second plurality of diffracted beams at a plurality of distributed locations, and out-couple a second plurality of output beams.

An anti-reflective waveguide assembly comprising a waveguide substrate having a first index of refraction, a plurality of diffractive optical elements disposed upon a first surface of the waveguide and an anti-reflective coating disposed upon a second surface of the waveguide. The anti-reflective coating preferably increases absorption of light through a surface to which it is applied into the waveguide so that at least 97 percent of the light is transmitted. The anti-reflective coating is composed of four layers of material having different indices of refraction that the first index of refraction and an imaginary refractive index less than 1×10but preferably less than 5×10.

Anti-reflective coatings on optical waveguides

A pupil separation system includes an input surface and a central portion including one or more dichroic mirrors. The pupil separation system also includes a reflective surface disposed laterally with respect to the central portion and an output surface including a central surface operable to transmit light in a first wavelength range and a peripheral surface operable to transmit light in a second wavelength range different from the first wavelength range. The light in the second wavelength range is reflected by the one or more dichroic mirrors before being reflected by the reflective surface.

Method and system for pupil separation in a diffractive eyepiece waveguide display

A wearable display system includes an eyepiece stack having a world side and a user side opposite the world side. During use, a user positioned on the user side views displayed images delivered by the wearable display system via the eyepiece stack which augment the user's field of view of the user's environment. The system also includes an optical attenuator arranged on the world side of the of the eyepiece stack, the optical attenuator having a layer of a birefringent material having a plurality of domains each having a principal optic axis oriented in a corresponding direction different from the direction of other domains. Each domain of the optical attenuator reduces transmission of visible light incident on the optical attenuator for a corresponding different range of angles of incidence.

Angularly selective attenuation of light transmission artifacts in wearable displays

The disclosure describes an improved drop-on-demand, controlled volume technique for dispensing resist onto a substrate, which is then imprinted to create a patterned optical device suitable for use in optical applications such as augmented reality and/or mixed reality systems. The technique enables the dispensation of drops of resist at precise locations on the substrate, with precisely controlled drop volume corresponding to an imprint template having different zones associated with different total resist volumes. Controlled drop size and placement also provides for substantially less variation in residual layer thickness across the surface of the substrate after imprinting, compared to previously available techniques. The technique employs resist having a refractive index closer to that of the substrate index, reducing optical artifacts in the device. To ensure reliable dispensing of the higher index and higher viscosity resist in smaller drop sizes, the dispensing system can continuously circulate the resist.

Surface relief waveguides with high refractive index resist

A wearable display system includes an eyepiece stack having a world side and a user side opposite the world side, wherein during use a user positioned on the user side views displayed images delivered by the system via the eyepiece stack which augment the user's view of the user's environment. The wearable display system also includes an angularly selective film arranged on the world side of the of the eyepiece stack. The angularly selective film includes a polarization adjusting film arranged between pair of linear polarizers. The linear polarizers and polarization adjusting film significantly reduces transmission of visible light incident on the angularly selective film at large angles of incidence without significantly reducing transmission of light incident on the angularly selective film at small angles of incidence.

Attenuation of light transmission artifacts in wearable displays

Display devices include waveguides with in-coupling optical elements that mitigate re-bounce of in-coupled light to improve overall in-coupling efficiency and/or uniformity. A waveguide receives light from a light source and/or projection optics and includes an in-coupling optical element that in-couples the received light to propagate by total internal reflection in a propagation direction within the waveguide. Once in-coupled into the waveguide the light may undergo re-bounce, in which the light reflects off a waveguide surface and, after the reflection, strikes the in-coupling optical element. Upon striking the in-coupling optical element, the light may be partially absorbed and/or out-coupled by the optical element, thereby effectively reducing the amount of in-coupled light propagating through the waveguide. The in-coupling optical element can be truncated or have reduced diffraction efficiency along the propagation direction to reduce the occurrence of light loss due to re-bounce of in-coupled light, resulting in less in-coupled light being prematurely out-coupled and/or absorbed during subsequent interactions with the in-coupling optical element.

Diffractive optical elements with mitigation of rebounce-induced light loss and related systems and methods

An eyepiece waveguide for an augmented reality display system may include an optically transmissive substrate, an input coupling grating (ICG) region, a multi-directional pupil expander (MPE) region, and an exit pupil expander (EPE) region. The ICG region may receive an input beam of light and couple the input beam into the substrate as a guided beam. The MPE region may include a plurality of diffractive features which exhibit periodicity along at least a first axis of periodicity and a second axis of periodicity. The MPE region may be positioned to receive the guided beam from the ICG region and to diffract it in a plurality of directions to create a plurality of diffracted beams. The EPE region may overlap the MPE region and may out couple one or more of the diffracted beams from the optically transmissive substrate as output beams.

An augmented reality display system. The system can include a first eyepiece waveguide with a first input coupling grating (ICG) region. The first ICG region can receive a set of input beams of light corresponding to an input image having a corresponding field of view (FOV), and can in-couple a first subset of the input beams. The first subset of input beams can correspond to a first sub-portion of the FOV. The system can also include a second eyepiece waveguide with a second ICG region. The second ICG region can receive and in-couple at least a second subset of the input beams. The second subset of the input beams can correspond to a second sub-portion of the FOV. The first and second sub-portions of the FOV can be at least partially different but together include the complete FOV of the input image.

Growing community of inventors

Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States of America

Kevin Messer