Viewing optics for immersive near-eye displays: pupil swim/size and weight/stray light

Ying Geng; Jacques Gollier; Brian Wheelwright; Fenglin Peng; Yusufu Sulai; Brant Lewis; Ning Chan; Wai Sze Tiffany Lam; Alexander Fix; Douglas Lanman; Yijing Fu; Alexander Sohn; Brett Bryars; Nelson Cardenas; Youngshik Yoon; Scott McEldowney

doi:10.1117/12.2307671

21 May 2018 Viewing optics for immersive near-eye displays: pupil swim/size and weight/stray light

Ying Geng, Jacques Gollier, Brian Wheelwright, Fenglin Peng, Yusufu Sulai, Brant Lewis, Ning Chan, Wai Sze Tiffany Lam, Alexander Fix, Douglas Lanman, Yijing Fu, Alexander Sohn, Brett Bryars, Nelson Cardenas, Youngshik Yoon, Scott McEldowney

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Proceedings Volume 10676, Digital Optics for Immersive Displays; 1067606 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2307671
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2018, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

Near-eye display performance is usually summarized with a few simple metrics such as field of view, resolution, brightness, size, and weight, which are derived from the display industry. In practice, near-eye displays often suffer from image artifacts not captured in traditional display metrics. This work defines several immersive near-eye display metrics such as gaze resolution, pupil swim, image contrast, and stray light. We will discuss these metrics and their trade-offs through review of a few families of viewing optics. Fresnel lenses are used in most commercial virtual reality near-eye displays in part due to their light weight, low volume and acceptable pupil swim performance. However, Fresnel lenses can suffer from significant stray light artifacts. We will share our measurements of several lenses and demonstrate ways to improve performance. Smooth refractive lens systems offer the option for lower stray-light viewing but usually at the cost of a much larger size and weight in order to get to the same pupil swim performance. This can be addressed by using a curved image plane but requires new display technology. Polarization-based pancake optics is promising and can provide excellent image resolution and pupil swim performance within an attractive form-factor. This approach, however, generally results in low light efficiency and poor image contrast due to severe ghosting. We will discuss some of the main limitations of that technology.

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Ying Geng, Jacques Gollier, Brian Wheelwright, Fenglin Peng, Yusufu Sulai, Brant Lewis, Ning Chan, Wai Sze Tiffany Lam, Alexander Fix, Douglas Lanman, Yijing Fu, Alexander Sohn, Brett Bryars, Nelson Cardenas, Youngshik Yoon, and Scott McEldowney "Viewing optics for immersive near-eye displays: pupil swim/size and weight/stray light", Proc. SPIE 10676, Digital Optics for Immersive Displays, 1067606 (21 May 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2307671

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