Photonics West: Plessey teams up with WaveOptics for AR glasses
The module will incorporate Plessey’s high brightness microLED HD display along with WaveOptics’ Katana waveguide technology (photo right) and projector design.
“Critically, this module will be the smallest and lowest mass AR display module available on the market,” according ot Plessey.
The microLED display from Plessey is the result of its previously announced partnership with Compound Photonics, to combine Plessey’s GaN-on-silicon display technology with Compound Photonics’ active backplane and Nova display driver architecture.
“Advances in image quality, brightness, resolution, and power consumption are sought after in order to make these new AR and MR systems a compelling practical and visual experience,” said Plessey. “The collaboration between Plessey and WaveOptics delivers the necessary innovation.”
“This is a crucial development to enable this technology to reach the consumer market in 2020,” claimed WaveOptics CEO David Hayes.
Augmented reality glasses are technically more difficult to create compared with virtual reality goggles as the optics have to be able to mix an electronic display image with a view of the outside world in a small space – hence the use of diffractive optics like Katana, and the display has to be able to compete with daylight while maintaining a reasonable battery size – Plessey’s GaN-on-Si microleds have the potential to do be brighter than LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) with simpler optics than DMD (micro mirror) miniature displays.
WaveOptics revealed the Katana augmented reality waveguide at Photonics West. It is 1.15mm thick and weighs 7g.
“Katana is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for augmented reality headsets, bringing mass market ambitions closer to reality,” said Hayes. “As the thinnest, full colour waveguide available on the market, Katana enables our customers to design products that can meet the performance expectations of a wider range of consumers, and we can help them do that at the right price point.”