Holographic Waveguide Research Articles

Exit pupil uniformity improvement of holographic waveguide displays based on a genetic algorithm

Waveguide displays based on a volume holographic grating (VHG) have the benefit of expanding the exit pupil. Exit pupil size and exit pupil uniformity are two important indicators of waveguide displays. Most current optimizations for exit pupil uniformity are based on the central viewing angle. However, this does not ensure satisfied exit pupil uniformity for other viewing angles. In this paper, a method based on a genetic algorithm to optimize the exit pupil uniformity under the whole horizontal field of view (HFOV) is proposed. First, the ray-tracing-based mathematical model to analyze the uniformity of the whole HFOV at all wavelengths is established. Based on the mathematical model, the objective function can be defined, which can optimize the refractive index modulation distribution on several regions of the out-coupling VHG. The simulation results show that for a holographic waveguide display with the exit pupil size of 16mm×12mm, the average exit pupil uniformity can reach 86.87% at a diagonal field of view (DFOV) of 30°, a 9.16% improvement over the previous method. The genetic-algorithm-based method proposed in the paper can effectively improve the exit pupil uniformity.

Design and fabrication of two-dimensional holographic grating waveguide with large field of view and high uniformity

Augmented Reality (AR) technology is a technique that integrates virtual im- ages with the real environment. With the continuous improvement of comput- ing power in mobile electronic products, mobile devices with AR capabilities are gradually becoming the next generation computing platform. When eval- uating the performance of holographic waveguides, key indicators include the field of view (FOV), eye relief, and eye box uniformity. This study proposes a method for designing holographic waveguides with a large field of view and high uniformity based on a two-dimensional holographic grating (2DHG). By lever- aging the multiplexing characteristics of photopolymer, we superimposed two incoherent one-dimensional gratings on a holographic material layer, achieving dual-channel propagation of the field of view, with each channel responsible for half of the FOV. In the end, these two channels are stitched together to form a complete FOV. This method not only enlarges the eye box but also helps im- prove the system's FOV. By controlling the transmittance of the exposure area, the uniformity of the brightness of the wide-field eye box is improved. Finally, we conducted a performance analysis of the prepared holographic waveguide, verifying the feasibility and correctness of the proposed 2DHG waveguide in two-dimensional eye box expansion and field of view extension. Through eye box expansion, the eye box reached 14 mm × 17 mm, the diagonal field of view reached 58◦, the eye relief is 15 mm, and the eye box brightness uniformity reached 79.7 %.

Genetic-algorithm-based waveguide display system with a multiplexed volume holographic grating.

Most of the current holographic waveguide display systems are designed based on the center beam. When the incident beam consists of rays with different angles, the field of view and optical efficiency would greatly reduce. The heavy angular dependence of the volume holographic grating (VHG) and the back-coupling loss are two main reasons. This paper proposes a design method of the waveguide display system with multiplexed VHG, which is based on a genetic algorithm to optimize and calculate the parameters both of the VHG and the waveguide. The simulation results show that the diagonal field of view of the holographic waveguide system is increased to 28°, and its optical efficiency is improved by 30%. The design method of the waveguide system with the multiplexed grating proposed in this paper can effectively expand the field of view and improve the optical efficiency.

Waveguide holography for 3D augmented reality glasses

Near-eye displays are fundamental technology in the next generation computing platforms for augmented reality and virtual reality. However, there are remaining challenges to deliver immersive and comfortable visual experiences to users, such as compact form factor, solving vergence-accommodation conflict, and achieving a high resolution with a large eyebox. Here we show a compact holographic near-eye display concept that combines the advantages of waveguide displays and holographic displays to overcome the challenges towards true 3D holographic augmented reality glasses. By modeling the coherent light interactions and propagation via the waveguide combiner, we demonstrate controlling the output wavefront using a spatial light modulator located at the input coupler side. The proposed method enables 3D holographic displays via exit-pupil expanding waveguide combiners, providing a large software-steerable eyebox. It also offers additional advantages such as resolution enhancement capability by suppressing phase discontinuities caused by pupil replication process. We build prototypes to verify the concept with experimental results and conclude the paper with discussion.

Accommodation-capable holographic waveguide head-up display with extended field of view

Augmented reality (AR) displays are enhancing user experiences by offering immersive three- dimensional (3D) content, with head-up display (HUD) being a prime application for driving safety. To enable AR-HUDs to provide sufficient information to driver, it is essential to ensure a wide field of view (FOV). Traditional methods like the magnifier principle have limitations stemming from optical aberrations and bulky form factor. Recently, optical waveguide has been used as pupil expander, which has attracted increasing attention as an optical element for compact form factor and exit-pupil expansion. However, waveguide display as exit-pupil expander only offer 2D images with infinite depth, causing mismatch issue between virtual content and real scenes. In this paper, we propose a lensless holographic waveguide display consisting of a laser light source, a spatial light modulator (SLM), a waveguide to generate accommodation-capable images, effectively extending FOV. The key distinction of this research lies in the optical design of the waveguide, which defines multiple shifted copies of the modulated wavefield as replicated virtual SLMs. A formalized algorithm is devised based on a bold assumption that numerous virtual SLMs replicated by a waveguide are considered as a single ultra-high resolution SLM. The effectiveness of the algorithm has been demonstrated through extensive validation through numerical observation simulations and optical experiments. Notably, optical experiments convincingly demonstrate the system’s ability to produce accommodation-capable true 3D content, with a four-fold extension of FOV compared to a single SLM at an observation distance of 150 mm. Additional optical experiments highlight the successful integration of AR technology, an important component for automotive HUD.

Effect of shrinkage in photopolymer film on the information transmitted through the holographic waveguide for near eye displays.

Due to shrinkage in photopolymer materials, the angle of the reconstruction beam in holographic optical elements (HOEs) does not match with the Bragg condition, resulting in a decreased amount of light in the desired direction or loss of transmitted information to rematch the Bragg condition. Thus, to ensure final display features it is imperative to precompensate the shrinkage effect. We derived simplified expressions for precompensation in recording geometries of required HOEs in holographic waveguide-based Maxwellian near eye displays. An acceptable range of detuning from the Bragg angle is also analyzed. The experimentally measured 4.95% shrinkage in photopolymer film for 0° and 45° recording angles of beams was precompensated using -0.86∘ and 43.7° recording angles. Theoretical results are validated through simulation and experiments.

Study on Two-Dimensional Exit Pupil Expansion for Diffractive Waveguide Based on Holographic Volume Grating

Diffraction gratings are becoming a preferred option for waveguide head-mounted in–out coupling devices due to their flexible optical properties and small size and light weight. At present, diffraction waveguide coupling devices for AR head-mounted displays (HMD) have difficulties such as a long development cycle and complicated processing. In this paper, we first establish a set of two-dimensional (2D) grating ray tracing models, based on which we determine the initial architecture of the dual-region two-dimensional exit pupil expansion (2D-EPE) AR-HMD holographic waveguide diffraction system. Second, we propose a honeycomb coupled grating array and optimize the optical energy utilization and brightness uniformity of the holographic waveguide and use a custom dynamic linked library (DLL) function to implement the ray tracing of the 2D grating and add a probabilistic splitting function to the DLL, which reduces the single simulation time from 11.853 min to 1.77 min. We also propose a holographic lithography device composed of holographic optical elements (HOEs) and a method for preparing HOEs. Finally, in order to obtain the diffraction efficiency preoptimized by the above DLL for the uniformity of the exit pupil brightness and light energy utilization, we inverse design with the preparation process parameters as the optimization variables and develop the adaptable electromagnetic calculation program Holo-RCWA. Using Holo-RCWA with nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II), we inverse design to obtain the process parameters satisfying the diffraction efficiency distribution, and the optimization time of the whole system is reduced from 2–3 days to 10 h. This work is of great significance for AR/VR applications.

Bragg degenerate model for fabrication of holographic waveguide-based near-eye displays.

The coupling efficiency of light beams is a crucial factor for waveguide displays. Generally, the light beam is not coupled with maximum efficiency in the holographic waveguide without employing a prism in the recording geometry. Use of prisms in recording geometry leads to restricting the propagation angle of the waveguide to a specific value only. The issue of efficient coupling of a light beam without using prisms could be overcome via Bragg degenerate configuration. In this work, the simplified expressions of the Bragg degenerate case are obtained for the realization of normally illuminated waveguide-based displays. Using this model, by tuning the parameters of recording geometry, a range of propagation angles can be produced for a fixed normal incidence of a playback beam. Numerical simulations and experimental investigations of the Bragg degenerate waveguides of different geometries are performed to validate the model. A Bragg degenerate playback beam is successfully coupled in four waveguides recorded with different geometries and yields good diffraction efficiency at normal incidence. The quality of transmitted images is characterized using the structural similarity index measure. The augmentation of a transmitted image in the real world is experimentally demonstrated through the fabricated holographic waveguide for near-eye display applications. Bragg degenerate configuration can provide flexibility in the angle of propagation while maintaining the same coupling efficiency achievable with a prism for holographic waveguide displays.

P‐2.13: Design of Volume Holographic Grating based on Genetic Algorithm

High-performance volume holographic grating (VHG) is an important coupling element of holographic waveguide. Small angular bandwidth and low average diffraction efficiency are important disadvantages restricting the applications of VHG. This paper presents a VHG design method based on genetic algorithm. Genetic algorithm is a method of searching for the optimal solution by simulating the natural evolution process.When using genetic algorithm to design VHG, it is necessary to establish a suitable evaluation function, in which angular bandwidth and diffraction efficiency are calculated on the basis of Kogelnik coupled wave theory. The simulation results show that the diffraction efficiency of the designed VHG can reach 96.5% after the optimized design, and the angular bandwidth is 14.1°. Compared with the traditional VHG design method, it is simpler and easier to find the optimal preparation parameters, which provides a theoretical basis for the analysis and preparation of VHG.

Holographic waveguide display with large field of view based on volume holographic grating

AbstractThe field of view (FOV) of waveguide display systems based on volume holographic grating (VHG) is primarily constrained by the diffraction response bandwidth, which is currently insufficient to meet the need for AR immersive displays. Through the composite diffraction response bandwidths, red‐responsive and green‐responsive double‐layer VHG structures are proposed to expand the FOV under varied image sources. The influence of several input spectral bandwidths on FOV improvement is also considered, and OLED micro‐display and LCOS micro‐display are selected as image sources. As a consequence, the horizontal FOV of the red‐responsive double‐layer VHG waveguide based on the LCOS micro‐display is 19.5°, and that of the green‐responsive double‐layer VHG waveguide based on the OLED micro‐display is 33.4°. Through the simulation and experiment, we effectively illustrate the effect of the double‐layer VHG and the input spectral bandwidth on the FOV.

Design and fabrication method of holographic waveguide near-eye display with 2D eye box expansion.

Augmented reality near-eye display (AR-NED) technology has attracted enormous interests for its widespread potential applications. In this paper, two-dimensional (2D) holographic waveguide integrated simulation design and analysis, holographic optical elements (HOEs) exposure fabrication, prototype performance evaluation and imaging analysis are completed. In the system design, a 2D holographic waveguide AR-NED integrated with a miniature projection optical system is presented to achieve a larger 2D eye box expansion (EBE). A design method for controlling the luminance uniformity of 2D-EPE holographic waveguide by dividing the two thicknesses of HOEs is proposed, which is easy to fabricate. The optical principle and design method of the HOE-based 2D-EBE holographic waveguide are described in detail. In the system fabrication, laser exposure fabrication method of eliminating stray light for HOEs is proposed, and a prototype system is fabricated and demonstrated. The properties of the fabricated HOEs and the prototype are analyzed in detail. The experimental results verified that the 2D-EBE holographic waveguide has a diagonal field of view (FOV) of 45°, an ultra-thin thickness of 1 mm, and an eye box of 16 mm × 13 mm at an eye relief (ERF) of 18 mm, the MTF values of different FOVs at different 2D-EPE positions can be better than 0.2 at 20 lp/mm, and the whole luminance uniformity is 58%.

Versatile generation and manipulation of phase-structured light beams using on-chip subwavelength holographic surface gratings

Abstract Phase-structured light beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have a wide range of applications ranging from particle trapping to optical communication. Many techniques exist to generate and manipulate such beams but most suffer from bulky configurations. In contrast, silicon photonics enables the integration of various functional components on a monolithic platform, providing a way to miniaturize optical systems to chip level. Here, we propose a series of on-chip subwavelength holographic waveguide structures that can convert the in-plane guided modes into desired wavefronts and realize complex free-space functions, including the generation of complex phase-structured light beams, arbitrarily directed vortex beam emission and vortex beam focusing. We use a holographic approach to design subwavelength holographic surface gratings, and demonstrate broadband generation of Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) and linearly polarized (LP) modes. Moreover, by assigning appropriate geometric phase profiles to the spiral phase distribution, the off-chip vortex beam manipulation including arbitrarily directed emission and beam focusing scenarios can be realized. In the experiment, directed vortex beam emission is realized by using a fabricated tilt subwavelength holographic fork grating. The proposed waveguide structures enrich the functionalities of dielectric meta-waveguide structures, which can find potential applications in optical communication, optical trapping, nonlinear interaction and imaging.

The Projection Lens Design for Holographic Waveguide Display with One-dimensional Exit Pupil Expansion

The Projection Lens Design for Holographic Waveguide Display with One-dimensional Exit Pupil Expansion

Development of a Holographic Waveguide with Thermal Compensation for Augmented Reality Devices

In this research, studies were conducted on the possibility of providing thermal compensation of the information display device circuit based on a holographic waveguide when the wavelength of the radiation source ch as a result of changes in ambient temperature. A variant of implementing the waveguide structure in terms of the geometry of the diffraction gratings arrangement is proposed, its main parameters (grating period, thickness, refractive index) and the dependencies between them affecting the quality of the reproduced image are determined.

Image Quality for Near-Eye Display Based on Holographic Waveguides

The paper analyzes the image quality in augmented reality display based on holographic waveguides. Brightness, brightness non-uniformity, image noise, etc., depend on the parameters of the waveguide substrate, the configuration, and the relief shape of diffraction optical elements. The optimal structure of holographic waveguides obtained by analog holography has been studied. The presented recommendations to achieve the best image quality are based on experimental results for different configurations of holographic waveguides.

15.2: Design and Realization of Full‐Color VHG Holographic Waveguide Display

To realize the chromatic display function of VHG holographic waveguide display system, we firstly study the preparation process and holographic peformance of color‐sensitive acrylate based photopolymer. Based on the prepared photopolymer, we fabricated the RGB holographic waveguide device with the multiwavelength laser exposure method. Thus, for verifying the display function of the prepared device , the chromatic holographic waveguide near‐eye display module using the LCoS projector engine was developed. The application potential of the color‐sensitive photopolymer in holographic waveguide was also demonstrated.

15.4: Holographic Waveguide Display with Large Field of View Based on Volume Holographic Grating

The field of view of waveguide display systems based on volume holographic gratings is often limited by the grating diffraction response bandwidth, which still cannot meet people's needs for large field of view displays. In order to expand the viewing angle of the waveguide display, the influencing factors of the viewing angle of the waveguide display are analyzed based on the strictly coupled wave theory model, and a double‐layer volume grating waveguide structure that can effectively expand the diffraction response bandwidth is proposed. The grating is prepared by the variable‐angle fractional exposure method, and the holographic waveguide display system is built. The results show that the horizontal and vertical viewing angles of the display system can be expanded to 33° and 22°, respectively, and the diagonal viewing angle is 40°.

Tunable focal waveguide-based see-through display with negative liquid crystal lens.

A see-through display based on a planar holographic waveguide with a tunable focal plane is presented. A negative liquid crystal lens is attached on the outcoupling location of the waveguide to manipulate the image distance. The continuous tunable range for the focal length is from negative infinity to -65 cm. The demonstrated prototype system provides 10.5° field-of-view (FOV) for the images not locating at infinity. The FOV for the images not locating at infinity is limited by the diameter of the liquid crystal lens. The lens function of the liquid crystal lens is polarization dependent. By controlling the polarization states of the real scene and the input information image, the liquid crystal lens keeps the see-through function for a real scene and simultaneously plays the role of a negative lens for the input information image. Compared to the see-through display system with a single focal plane, the presented system offers a more comfortable augmented reality (AR) experience.

Computational see-through screen camera based on a holographic waveguide device.

This study proposes a novel computational imaging system that integrates a see-through screen (STS) with volume holographic optical elements (vHOEs) and a digital camera unit. Because of the unique features of the vHOE, the STS can function as a holographic waveguide device (HWD) and enable the camera to capture the frontal image when the user gazes at the screen. This system not only provides an innovative solution to a high-quality video communication system by realizing eye-contact but also contributes to other visual applications due to its refined structure. However, there is a dilemma in the proposed imaging system: for a wider field of view, a larger vHOE is necessary. If the size of the vHOE is larger, the light rays from the same object point are diffracted at different Bragg conditions and reflect a different number of times, which causes blurring of the captured image. The system imaging process is analyzed by ray tracing, and a digital image reconstruction method was employed to obtain a clear picture in this study. Optical experiments confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed HWD-STS camera.

Realizing the imaging simulation of reflective polarization volume gratings.

Near-eye holographic waveguide display system using novel reflective polarized volume gratings (RPVG) have lately gotten a lot of interest. However, from polarization characteristics to imaging simulation, there is no systematic approach based on RPVG. Here, a full methodology for solving this problem using the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) model is presented. This self-built RCWA model is used to examine the optical behavior of RPVG. This excellent portability of the RCWA model makes it possible for RPVG as a diffractive optical element, which is integrated into the commercial optical software Zemax via a self-compiled dynamic link library (DLL), and a full-color imaging simulation of the based-RPVG waveguide display system is obtained. Our work provides an instructive imaging analysis method using the RPVG for holographic waveguide display.