What They Say
Schott published an article that announced that the firm has a new optical glass that can reduce the weight of AR waveguides by 20% but also has a Refractive Index of 1.9 up from current devices which use wafers with an RI of 1.8. Schott said that this would extend the Field of View (FOV) of glasses by around 10°. Around 5 grams can be saved, which on a typical device weight of 70 gms means an overall 7% weight saving.
Schott has been working on lightweight glass for almost 50 years and said that the Schott RealView 1.9 lightweight glass is not an existing glass, but a new formula based in Schott’s proprietary melting technology has been tailored to mass-produce the new material.
Inkron, Finland, has developed an index-matching nano-imprintable resin, Schott said. Compatibility with nanoimprint mass production equipment of both the new glass and the new resin has been demonstrated by EV Group (EVG), a supplier of nanoimprint lithography (NIL) equipment for high-volume manufacturing.
What We Think
It amazes me that a material so established as glass can continue to be so improved. The competition between the big glass makers has been really fantastic for the display industry. (BR)
This photo from Schott shows the melting process. I thought it was a great image – and it’s hard to show lighter weight in a photo!
