Founded in 2009 by Richard van de Vrie in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, with R&D and operations located in Turnhout, Belgium, Luxexcel pioneered 3D printing of complex lenses used in automotive and eyewear markets. The company offered two types of lenses for the augmented reality market, a slanted diffraction grid that modifies the trajectory of light towards the retina, and integrated waveguides, holographic and electrochromic films.
The company was founded by people from the lighting industry.. In 2017, they realized it was possible to make ophthalmic lenses and since then have developed commercially ready ophthalmic lenses.
WaveOptics, founded in 2012 and based in Oxford, United Kingdom, is a wholly owned, independent subsidiary of Snap. Co-founders Salim Valera, David Grey and Sumanta Talukhdar developed a novel waveguide approach and filed the first patent for exit pupil expansion technology.
The company designs and develops optical engines for augmented reality smart glasses and headsets using DMD, LCoS or MicroLED sources. In May 2021, the company was acquired by Snap.
Figure 1. Luxexcel printed the waveguide side port lens for WaveOptics’ projector that fits into the tab on the right (Courtesy Luxexcel)
Luxexcel developed 3D printed lenses and WaveOptics did the projector that fits in the 3D printed lens.
Figure 2. WaveOptics’ miniature projectors fit in the side of the lens (Courtesy WaveOptics)
Over seventy-percent of the adult population requires prescription lenses. Using 3D printing, smart glasses can be manufactured in a normal form factor similar to a traditional lens. Lenses are lightweight and thin and look like normal-looking glasses.
One of the key advantages to the 3D printing process is that the lenses do not need to be polished after printing. Straight of the printer, the lens is smooth and ready to be coated. The company’s VisionClear materials are compatible with standard ophthalmic coatings and does not show birefringence.
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Meta was attracted to Luxexcel because of its ability to print complex optics that could be employed in smart glasses and AR headsets. Meta’s Project Aria is said to use Luxexcel lenses. Project Aria is a sensor-rich pair of glasses which Meta created to train its AR perception systems, and asses public perception of the technology.
The trend of big companies unable, or afraid to innovate on their own, try to secure their future by buying startups with novel technology and creativity. The founders of such companies typically leave the lumbering bureaucratically bond bigger firms as soon as they can—if they don’t get fired first, and go off and start something else new, while sluggish cash rich big firms look for other smart small fish to eat.
It almost never turns out the way the parties had hoped it would and the big firms struggles (and usually fails) to get a second generation model out, or if it does it is either late or mediocre.
