Optics is increasingly important in modern life, and advances in nanostructure-based flat optical devices hold great promise for revolutionary new opportunities in the display space. Augmented Reality (AR) are expected to enable the next ubiquitous computing and communication platform. Augmented Reality, especially, is a transformational new category of display that allows for the overlay of timely, location-based, or other useful information on the user’s natural view of the surrounding world. The Photonics Platforms group at Applied Materials is enabling higher brightness, thinner and lighter-weight optical systems with precise wavefront engineering to make possible novel optical devices. We have leveraged Applied Materials’ materials engineering expertise to develop a platform for the precision fabrication of nanostructured optical devices on 300mm glass wafers, as well as metrology, optical performance characterization, and back-end assembly of these devices. With this platform, we are producing top of the art waveguide combiners for AR applications and optical metasurfaces for multi-functional wavefront control in the near infrared.
|