Ultrathin, lightweight tunable lenses made from plastic liquid crystal cells

Head mounted display systems are now widely available, yet there are still key technical challenges to increase their market appeal. One such challenge is the conflict for the human vision between accommodation and vergence when viewing virtual content. At worst this leads to an uncomfortable viewing experience and at best it places limits on the projected content. The transition from fixed focal length optics to systems that can be tuned to match the virtual content promises to change this paradigm. In this paper we describe tunable liquid crystal lens based on Frensel optics that allow variable focus of the virtual image. Crucially this is the first time this type of lens has been made with ultra-thin, light bioplastic films instead of glass uniquely enabling attractive product form factors. We will showcase the performance attributes of the lenses and describe the cost effective manufacturing approach we have pioneered for making these ultrathin lenses in conventional flat panel display factories.