UCLA

In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) glasses have emerged as groundbreaking wearable devices, enabling a harmonious integration of virtual information with the real world. However, challenges remain in enhancing the optical systems that underpin AR glasses, including resolution and field of view limitations. This research focuses on leveraging metasurfaces, composed of subwavelength nanostructures, to design and optimize advanced optical components for AR glasses. By tailoring the properties of metasurfaces, such as amplitude, phase, and polarization control, we aim to overcome limitations and enhance the resolution, field of view, and overall visual performance of AR glasses. To achieve truly immersive AR experiences, improving the optical performance is essential. This involves minimizing aberrations, enhancing contrast, reducing glare, and optimizing light transmission efficiency. Metasurfaces offer unique capabilities for precise manipulation of light at the nanoscale, enabling the creation of highly efficient and compact optical components. By integrating metasurface-based elements, such as gratings, lenses, beam splitters, and polarization controllers, we can enhance resolution, expand the field of view, and improve overall optical performance. Furthermore, metasurfaces offer multifunctionality and the potential for dynamic control. By combining multiple functionalities within a single metasurface-based element, the complexity of optical systems can be reduced, leading to more compact and lightweight AR glasses. Additionally, incorporating tunable or switchable elements within metasurfaces enables real-time control of optical properties, allowing for adaptation to changing environmental conditions and advanced functionalities like adaptive focus and depth perception. This research also explores the challenges of small eyebox in Maxwellian view systems, which restricts user head movement and comfort. Innovative methods utilizing input angle modulation at the metasurface optical element (MOE) are proposed to increase the eyebox size while maintaining optical performance. The study includes the design and optimization of metasurface gratings, algorithm development for optimizing optical elements, implementation of a high-resolution full-color prototype, and investigation of imaging techniques like ultrafast light field tomography (LIFT). By combining these research efforts, this study aims to significantly advance the design and optimization of metasurface-based diffractive waveguide systems for AR applications. The outcomes have the potential to revolutionize the field of augmented reality, pushing the boundaries of optical resolution, addressing limitations, and enhancing the overall user experience. The findings contribute to the advancement of AR glasses, enabling new possibilities in industries such as education, entertainment, healthcare, and beyond.