Abstract
A compact augmented reality (AR) combiner using Pancharatnam-Berry phase (PBP) lens and holographic optical element (HOE) is proposed. PBP lens is activated as a convex lens or a concave lens according to the polarization state of the input light wave. By using this characteristic, a thin AR eyepiece with a large numerical aperture (NA) is constructed. The AR eyepiece operates as a convex lens for the input light with a right-handed circular polarization state and operates as a transparent plate for the left-handed circularly polarized light. In order to adopt this AR eyepiece to the AR combiner, a chromatic aberration should be compensated. To resolve the chromatic aberration, HOE which diffracts the light rays with different profiles according to the input wavelength is designed. By combining this HOE with the AR eyepiece and a light guide, a compact AR combiner providing a wide field of view (FOV) is designed. A prototype of the proposed AR combiner is presented along with experimental results and analysis.
Highlights
T ODAY many research groups in companies and academia are interested in developing wearable augmented reality (AR) devices
We have suggested an AR eyepiece consisting of stacked Pancharatnam-Berry phase (PBP) lenses as presented in Fig. 1(b) [8]
From the phase modulation relationship between two different lights passing through PBP lens, it is possible to derive the relationship between the focal length of the PBP lens and the input wavelength [9]
Summary
T ODAY many research groups in companies and academia are interested in developing wearable AR devices. The AR combiner should provide virtual images with a wide FOV and a high resolution. Color versions of one or more of the figures in this letter are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org To fulfil these conditions, many different approaches have been proposed including the usage of HOEs or diffractive optical elements (DOEs). Efficiency, and color uniformity issues, HOEs and DOEs still have enough potential to be adopted in future AR combiners Another approach to construct the AR combiner is an implementation of PBP optical elements. The system presents virtual images with relatively wide FOV and deals with severe chromatic aberration from PBP lenses by adopting layered diffuser-HOEs (DHOEs). By adopting a light guide and an HOE, the combiner presents virtual images with wide FOV without chromatic aberration while maintaining the compactness
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