Method and system for hybrid surface relief waveguide structures for augmented reality devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025244517-A1
Application number	US-202519183700-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 18, 2025
Priority date	Oct 21, 2022
Publication date	Jul 31, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An augmented reality system includes a projector and projection optics coupled to the projector. The augmented reality system also includes an eyepiece waveguide including hybrid diffractive structure including: one or more first nanofeatures having first material with a first index of refraction; and one or more second nanofeatures having a second material with a second index of refraction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An augmented reality system including:
a projector; projection optics coupled to the projector; and an eyepiece waveguide including hybrid diffractive structure including:
one or more first nanofeatures having first material with a first index of refraction; and
one or more second nanofeatures having a second material with a second index of refraction.

2 . The augmented reality system of claim 1 wherein the eyepiece waveguide further comprises a substrate and an incoupling diffractive structure coupled to the substrate.

3 . The augmented reality system of claim 2 wherein the eyepiece waveguide further comprises an outcoupling diffractive structure and the hybrid diffractive structure is a component of the outcoupling diffractive structure.

4 . The augmented reality system of claim 2 wherein the substrate comprises the second material.

5 . The augmented reality system of claim 1 wherein the first index of refraction is less than the second index of refraction.

6 . The augmented reality system of claim 1 wherein the eyepiece waveguide further comprises a substrate, wherein:
the one or more first nanofeatures comprise the first material coupled to the substrate; and
the one or more second nanofeatures comprise a portion of the substrate extending from the substrate.

7 . The augmented reality system of claim 6 wherein the one or more second nanofeatures further comprise the first material coupled to the portion of the substrate.

8 . The augmented reality system of claim 1 wherein the eyepiece waveguide further comprises a substrate and the one or more first nanofeatures are proximal to an incoupling diffractive structure coupled to the substrate and the one or more second nanofeatures are distal from the incoupling diffractive structure.

9 . The augmented reality system of claim 1 wherein the one or more first nanofeatures or the one or more second nanofeatures are separated by gaps between adjacent nanofeatures, the eyepiece waveguide further comprising a planarizing material filling the gaps.

10 . The augmented reality system of claim 9 wherein the planarizing material encapsulates the one or more first nanofeatures or the one or more second nanofeatures.

11 . An eyepiece waveguide comprising:
a substrate operable to support propagation of light; an incoupling diffractive structure coupled to the substrate; and an outcoupling diffractive structure coupled to the substrate, wherein the outcoupling diffractive structure includes one or more first nanofeatures having first material with a first index of refraction and one or more second nanofeatures having a second material with a second index of refraction.

12 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 11 wherein the substrate comprises the second material.

13 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 12 wherein the first index of refraction is less than the second index of refraction.

14 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 12 wherein:
the one or more first nanofeatures comprise the first material coupled to the substrate; and
the one or more second nanofeatures comprise:
a portion of the substrate extending from the substrate; and
the first material coupled to the portion of the substrate.

15 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 11 wherein the one or more first nanofeatures are proximal to the incoupling diffractive structure and the one or more second nanofeatures are distal from the incoupling diffractive structure.

16 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 11 wherein:
the one or more first nanofeatures are disposed in a first zone proximal to the incoupling diffractive structure;
the one or more second nanofeatures are disposed in a second zone distal from the incoupling diffractive structure; and
the eyepiece waveguide further comprises a transition zone disposed between the first zone and the second zone.

17 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 16 wherein transition zone comprises transition nanofeatures having transition material with an index of refraction between the first index of refraction and the second index of refraction.

18 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 16 wherein the incoupling diffractive structure has a first width measured parallel to the substrate and the transition zone has a second width measured parallel to the substrate and greater than the first width.

19 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 11 wherein the one or more first nanofeatures or the one or more second nanofeatures are separated by gaps between adjacent nanofeatures, the eyepiece waveguide further comprising a planarizing material filling the gaps.

20 . The eyepiece waveguide of claim 19 wherein the planarizing material encapsulates the outcoupling diffractive structure.

Assignees

• Magic Leap Inc

Inventors

• Singh Vikramjit
• Khandekar Chinmay
• Tekolste Robert D

Classifications

• G02B6/0093

  Means for protecting the light guide · CPC title

• G02B6/0076

  Stacked arrangements of multiple light guides of the same or different cross-sectional area · CPC title

• G02B6/0036

  2-D arrangement of prisms, protrusions, indentations or roughened surfaces · CPC title

• G06V40/193

  Preprocessing; Feature extraction · CPC title

• G02B27/0172

  characterised by optical features · CPC title