Research on a surface-relief optical waveguide augmented reality display device

Recently, an optical waveguide display device that has light weight, high transparency, and full color has become more and more popular in the wearable augmented reality display application. But existing waveguide display devices are less than satisfactory because of cost, safety, and mass production. Therefore, a type of surface-relief optical waveguide display device is proposed in this paper. First, the geometrical relationship of a waveguide display device structure is confirmed according to the design method of the optical waveguide display device. Then, the influence of the waveguide structure for the image quality is analyzed, and the rationality of the surface-relief waveguide scheme is verified by simulation. Finally, the prototype of the surface-relief optical waveguide display device with polycarbonate materials, field of view of 38°, thickness of 4.5 mm, and transmittance of about 80% is fabricated and demonstrated.