A research group at the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences has developed a prototype system for augmented reality that can occlude some parts of the view of the real world so that virtual objects can appear to be in front of background objects. At the moment, the system takes a lot of bulk, but the group hopes to get this down to around helmet size, with glasses form factors some way away.
The prototype uses an OLED coupled with an LCOS spatial light modulator to block the background image on a pixel by pixel basis. The OLED was a 0.7″ Sony device and the project achieved a 30º FOV and a contrast ratio of 100:1 on the occlusion module.
Schematic diagram of the proposed OCOST-HMD design based on a two-layer folded optical architecture
Analyst Comment
Dr Hong Hua is also connected with Magic Leap, although reports suggest that this is in a different area. The paper linked above said that Dr Hong Hua has a financial interest in Magic Leap.
