Image steering with multi-domain field of view expansion by MEMS SLM for near-to-eye AR display engines

Abstract

Near-to-eye displays (NED) require a large field of view (FOV), high resolution, and a small form factor that requires a small display size. These design parameters are often mutually coupled, making it difficult to create a system that satisfies all three at once. Moreover, the FOV in the NED combiner is typically restricted by the refractive index (RI), limiting the use of low-cost glass and polymer materials for image guides. In this paper, the problem: an image transfer that exceeds RI-limited FOV and reduces display size without sacrificing the resolution is demonstrated by multi-domain multiplexed image transfer. In the proposed techniques, we leverage time-wavelength and diffractive multiplexing to reduce a display size by factors of five while achieving 60 degrees FOV transferred over a commercially available 30 degrees FOV geometric waveguide, and maintaining the 32.26 pixels/degree resolution.