The present disclosure relates to a holographic device and a method of forming a holographic device. The present disclosure also relates to a virtual retinal display comprising a holographic device. The disclosure also relates to an augmented reality display system comprising a virtual retinal display. Yet further the present disclosure relates to an augmented reality display system comprising the holographic device wherein the augmented reality display is a pair of smart glasses.
A virtual retinal display (VRD) system, also known as a Retinal Scan Display (RSD) system or more simply a Retinal Projector (RP) system, is a display technology that rapidly scans or rasters a display image via an optical system onto the retina of a user's eye. VRD systems, enable users to see what appears to be a conventional display floating in their field of view in front of them. Such VRD systems are currently incorporated into so-called smart glasses to enable augmented reality where a virtual image is displayed to a user wearing the smart glasses.
An example of a typical VRD system 100 is shown in
It is known however, that such VRD arrangements suffer from image resolution problems. As shown schematically in
As shown in
The types of point-to-point holographic optical element as described above are designed to produce a single eye-box. The attractiveness of using point-to-point hologram to create an array of small eye-boxes is that when it comes to superposition, that is blending or coordinating, of images coming through viewers pupil, it is easy for eye tracking algorithms to select rays from the field-of-view which are seen or not seen by the viewer. However, point-to-point holographic optical elements do suffer from the resolution problems as mentioned.
Various example embodiments are directed to issues such as those addressed above and/or others which may become apparent from the following disclosure. The purpose and advantages of the illustrated embodiments are described below.
The present disclosure relates generally to a holographic device that overcomes issues of image resolution associated with known point to point type holographic optical elements.
According to embodiments there is provided therefore a holographic device for a virtual retinal display, the holographic device comprising: a substrate; and a holographic element arranged on said substrate; wherein the holographic element comprises a phase pattern and said phase pattern contains a predefined optical coma configured and arranged to diffract light from a light source to generate an eye box at an eye plane of the holographic element. The eye box may be a coma aberrated image of said light source.
The optical coma of said holographic element may be configured and arranged to form an array of eye boxes at said eye plane and the array of discrete eye boxes may be a two-dimensional array of eye-boxes at said eye plane. The optical coma may be represented as cubic function in the phase profile across a transverse axis of the holographic element, wherein said transverse axis may extends through a central portion of the holographic element between first and second distal edges of said holographic element. The optical coma may increase from the central portion of the holographic element toward said first and second distal sides of said holographic element and wherein said optical coma is anti-symmetrical about a central axis. A local optical focusing power of the holographic element may increase from the central portion of said holographic element towards the first side; and the local focusing power decreases from the centre portion towards the second side. The local optical focusing power of the holographic element may be substantially zero at the central portion and wherein the local optical focusing power varies substantially linearly across the width of the holographic element. The eye plane may be orientated normally with respect to a central ray of said light source from the central portion of the holographic element.
According to embodiments there is also provided a method of forming a holographic device for a virtual retinal display system, the method comprising: forming a holographic element on a substrate; wherein the holographic element comprises a phase pattern and said phase pattern contains a predefined optical coma configured and arranged to diffract light from a light source to generate an eye box at an eye plane of the holographic element, and said eye box is a coma aberrated image of said light source.
There is also provided a virtual retinal display system comprising a holographic device according to embodiments. The virtual retinal display may further comprising a projector system, wherein the projector system comprises a light source and one or more scanning mirrors configured an arranged to direct light from said light source to said holographic device. The holographic device may be configured and arranged to diffract light from said projector system to said eye plane, wherein said eye plane corresponds in location to a pupil of a user's eye. Said light source may be an RGB laser and said one or more scanning mirrors are micro-electromechanical (MEMS) scanning mirrors. The virtual retinal display may further comprising an eye tracking system, wherein the eye tracking system is configured and arranged to select one or more of the discrete eye boxes of the two-dimensional array.
There is also provided an augmented reality system, comprising such a virtual retinal display system according to embodiments and a pair of smart glasses.
Advantageously, uniform resolution throughout the image is achieved by using the holographic device according to embodiments to achieve a uniform focus on a plane at the eye. This results in an improvement of image resolution compared to known VRD systems by introducing pupil aberrations in the form of a predefined optical coma.
So that the manner in which the features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description is made with reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended figures. It is to be noted, however, that the appended figures illustrate only typical embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The figures are for facilitating an understanding of the disclosure and thus are not necessarily drawn to scale. Advantages of the subject matter claimed will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this description in conjunction with the accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals have been used to designate like elements, and in which:
In overview and referring to
Advantageously, the hologram element 304 of the holographic device 300 according to embodiments incorporates a predefined phase pattern in order to achieve improved resolution. Depending on the specific application and the limitations of the VRD, the holographic device 300 when used with a VRD can improve the resolution of the image by for example a factor of up to 2 times. For example, the holographic device 300 may achieve at least 10-line pairs per degree which is uniform across the field of view. This is compared with known point to point holographic optical elements which may result in 5-line pairs per degree.
The phase pattern of the hologram element 304 is recorded in the interference pattern making up the hologram element 304. Contrary to known approaches, the phase pattern introduces a coma aberration into the hologram element 304. Comas may arise in certain optical systems due to for example misalignment in optical components and are unwanted because they result in blurred images. However, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, a predefined phase pattern in the form of a coma is deliberately introduced to achieve the improved resolution. The inventive concept of the present disclosure is a coma which can be characterised as a substantially cubic term addition in the phase profile across the hologram element 304 and more specifically the transverse lateral direction (that is the horizontal direction across the plane of the hologram when viewing
The phase profile according to embodiments can be seen in
On the right-hand side of
With this cubic phase profile in mind, and looking at
In this regard the skilled person will appreciate that in order to implement the present invention, the hologram element 304 of the holographic device 300 should have an additional coma contribution in the form of a cubic phase profile. The effect of the coma in the holographic device 300 is to vary the optical power proportional to the distance from the origin of the holographic element 304.
Further performance improvements will be derived from optimising the phase function in other directions, such as the orthogonal direction to the transverse horizontal direction, mentioned above, along the hologram element surface. The above-described embodiment describes the situation where the phase profile of
How light is diffracted from the holographic device 300 will be more clearly understood with reference to
Ray bundle P2′ exits an optical system (such as a projector) and is focused at the intermediate focal surface P′. Ray bundle P2′ is known as an on-axis ray because it lies on the optical axis of the projector system. Rays bundles P1′ and P3′ do not lie at on the optical axis of the exit optical system and are therefore off-axis. Ray bundle P2′ is incident on, and diffracted from, the holographic device 300 and because ray bundle P2′ is incident on the centre of the holographic device 300 (that is corresponding to the origin of
With reference to
When in use, in for example a VRD, as discussed in more detail below, the holographic device 300 causes pupil aberrations. The hologram device 300 makes an image of the exit pupil of the projector system aberrated with the coma. The image generated by a projector system may focused at infinity, while the exit pupil of the projector system is aberrated at the eye plane. That is, the eye box at the eye plane is a coma aberrated image of an exit pupil of an optical system (such as the exit pupil of the projector system where the exit pupil of the projector system is relayed into discrete and separate coma aberrated eye boxes). The coma introduced by the holographic optical element 300 thus deliberately compensates or corrects image aberrations at the expense of pupil aberrations. In this way, the skilled person will see that the holographic device 300 according to embodiments achieves equalised focus between different fields of view at the eye plane at the expense of spreading out the eye box. Whilst the image generated by a projector system may be focused at infinity, the principles of the present disclosure may be applied to different focal distances across the field of view, such as 1 m (meter), depending on the specific AR system design. Typically, smart glass applications require a focal distance of 1 m, whereas head up displays require a focal distance of infinity.
The holographic device 300 according to embodiments may be formed by any appropriate holographic processes. The skilled person will appreciate that standard holographic techniques may be used for forming the hologram element 304 on the substrate. Specifically, the interference pattern used to form the hologram element 304 is created by two beams, referred as a reference beam and an object beam and the interference pattern is the recorded on the hologram element 304. The hologram element 304 is formed on the substrate 302 by coating or laminating an appropriate holographic material on the substrate 302. The skilled person will appreciate that any appropriate holographic material may be used, for example photopolymers or silver halide, to form or record a desired holographic pattern or interference pattern on the substrate 302.
A further advantage of the holographic device 300 according to embodiments is that it can be utilised with projector systems without having to change the design of the projector systems. The coma of the holographic device 300 is simply optimised for the specific optical design of the projector system.
The skilled person will appreciate that the holographic device 300 according to embodiments may be suitable for use in any number of optical applications. Such applications include but are not limited to VRDs, lenses of smart glasses, such smart glasses used in conjunction with VRDs, smart glasses with eye-tracking or head up displays (HUDs).
The holographic device 300 may be embedded in one or both lenses of a pair of smart glasses. By way of non-limiting example, the lamination process may include the following steps. The holographic device 300 may be a thin film of the same size and profile of the lenses. The thin film may be laminated between a first component part of a lens and a second component of a lens. The first component part and the second component part are then attached to each other, such that the thin film is entirely encapsulated within the lens or lenses. Likewise, the thin film may be laminated directly onto the outer surface of one or both of the lenses. Alternatively, the substrate 302 of the holographic device 300 may also function as a lens or lenses of a pair of smart glasses. The skilled person will therefore appreciate any appropriate embedding or lamination process may be used without departing from the scope of the inventive concept.
The holographic device 300 may be used in conjunction with a VRD an example of which is illustrated in
Light incident on the holographic device 300, is thus diffracted in accordance with the principles set out above, to form the eye box as illustrated in
In the context of the present application and optical systems as a whole, the skilled person will appreciate that the exit pupil of the projector system 610 may be real or virtual. An exit pupil may be defined an aperture in an optical where only rays which pass through this aperture can exit the system. In the sense that it is real it may be a lens, aperture or other suitable optical components. Virtual pupils may be generated by other refractive components.
As mentioned above the holographic device 300 according to embodiments may be incorporated in or on one or more lenses of a pair of smart glasses. A VRD 600 of the type described above may be included on a frame of the smart glasses. Typically, the VRD 600 is placed one arm of the smart glasses and light from the VRD 600 is directed to one of the lenses incorporating the holographic device 300. The holographic device 300 according to embodiments redirects light from the VRD onto the eye plane and when in use an image can then be viewed by a wearer or user of the glasses. The cubic phase profile is preferably implemented, for example in smart glasses, such that a projector system is directionally orientated, with respect to the holographic device 300.
Known point-to-point holographic elements can be multiplexed to generate multiple eye boxes in the form of an array. Similarly, the holographic device 300 can be multiplexed to generate an array of eye boxes. Where multiple eye boxes are generated eye tracking may be used to select a specific eye box for viewing by a user. In terms of operation, light from the VRD 600 is directed onto the holographic device 300 into the eye of the user, forming an array of distinct eye boxes at the eye plane as mentioned above. Images observed at different eye boxes can be registered or superimposed through eye tracking techniques. For example, optical eye tracking head-mounted systems typically have an infrared (IR) light source to illuminate the eye and an IR camera (for example, a Charge Coupled Device, CCD) to capture an image of the eye and track the position of the eye. The IR camera and the IR light source may be mounted near the eye a head-mounted structure, for instance the frame of a pair of smart glasses. Machine vision algorithms can then determine the position of the corneal reflection from the light source, also called a glint or first Purkinje image or spot, and the position of the pupil. This allows specific eye boxes to be imaged and viewed by the user. The skilled person will however appreciate any appropriate eye tracking technique, such as optical eye tracking (as described); eye-attached tracking; or electric potential measurement may be used without departing from the scope of the inventive concept.
Particular and preferred aspects of the disclosure are set out in the accompanying independent claims. Combinations of features from the dependent and/or independent claims may be combined as appropriate and not merely as set out in the claims.
The scope of the present disclosure includes any novel feature or combination of features disclosed therein either explicitly or implicitly or any generalisation thereof irrespective of whether or not it relates to the claimed disclosure or mitigate against any or all of the problems addressed by the present disclosure. The applicant hereby gives notice that new claims may be formulated to such features during prosecution of this application or of any such further application derived therefrom. In particular, with reference to the appended claims, features from dependent claims may be combined with those of the independent claims and features from respective independent claims may be combined in any appropriate manner and not merely in specific combinations enumerated in the claims.
Features which are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub combination.
The term “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, the term “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. Reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2113846.6 | Sep 2021 | GB | national |
This application is a national stage application, filed under 35 U.S.C. § 371, of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2022/075562, filed on Sep. 14, 2022, which claims priority to United Kingdom Patent Application No. 2113846.6, filed on Sep. 28, 2021, the entire contents of each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP22/75562 | 9/14/2022 | WO |