New Waveguides for AR Glasses Are Coming to a Face Near You
Lasers, fashion, occlusion, and other news from SPIE Photonics West
I spent two days at SPIE Photonics West this week catching up on the latest innovations in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) displays. This particular conference may have been a bit too dry for even tech journalists to cover, so I’ll extract the most interesting bits for a less technical audience here.
Disclaimer: I am an adviser to several of the companies that presented. To keep this article balanced, I try to avoid endorsing or bashing companies by name. I will talk mostly about the tech: pros and cons. I’m also not an optics expert, though I’ve learned a bit by working with experts on early HoloLens and undisclosed projects in other companies. Some of my work was in scouting and evaluating technologies like these. However, I spent much more time considering the questions around what should we build and why.
What’s new with waveguides?
Waveguides have been the top technology option for most AR glasses thus far, as used in HoloLens, Magic Leap, and more. A waveguide is a mostly clear, thin piece of glass or plastic inside AR glasses that (almost) magically helps bend and combine light into your eye. This added light…
