In 1997, Azuma published a survey on augmented reality (AR). Our goal is to complement, rather than replace, the original survey by presenting representative examples of the new advances. We refer one to the original survey for descriptions of potential applications (such as medical visualization, maintenance and repair of complex equipment, annotation, and path planning); summaries of AR system characteristics (such as the advantages and disadvantages of optical and video approaches to blending virtual and real, problems in display focus and contrast, and system portability); and an introduction to the crucial problem of registration, including sources of registration error and error-reduction strategies.

https://www.cc.gatech.edu/~blair/papers/ARsurveyCGA.pdf

Recent advances in augmented reality

We are on the verge of ubiquitously adopting Augmented Reality (AR) technologies to enhance our percep- tion and help us see, hear, and feel our environments in new and enriched ways. AR will support us in fields such as education, maintenance, design and reconnaissance, to name but a few. This paper describes the field of AR, including a brief definition and development history, the enabling technologies and their characteristics. It surveys the state of the art by reviewing some recent applications of AR technology as well as some known limitations regarding human factors in the use of AR systems that developers will need to overcome.

/pdf/a-survey-of-augmented-reality-technologies-applications-and-3d9hf1tnc4.pdf

A Survey of Augmented Reality Technologies, Applications and Limitations

Optical reflection, or in other words the loss of reflection, from a surface becomes increasingly crucial in determining the extent of the light-matter interaction. The simplest example of using an anti-reflecting (AR) surface is possibly the solar cell that incorporates an AR coating to harvest sunlight more effectively. Researchers have now found ways to mimic biological structures, such as moth eyes or cicada wings, which have been used for the AR purpose by nature herself. These nanoscopic biomimetic structures lend valuable clues in fabricating and designing gradient refractive index materials that are efficient AR structures. The reflectance from a selected sub-wavelength or gradient index structures have come down to below 1% in the visible region of the spectrum and efforts are on to achieve broader bands of such enhanced AR regime. In addition to the challenge of broader bands, the performance of AR structures is also limited by factors such as omnidirectional properties and polarization of incident light. This review presents selected state-of-the-art AR techniques, reported over the last half a century, and their guiding principles to predict a logical trend for future research in this field.

Anti-reflecting and photonic nanostructures

Head-worn display design is inherently an interdisciplinary subject fusing optical engineering, optical materials, optical coatings, electronics, manufacturing techniques, user interface design, computer science, human perception, and physiology for assessing these displays. This paper summarizes the state-of-the-art in head-worn display design (HWD) and development. This review is focused on the optical engineering aspects, divided into different sections to explore principles and applications. Building on the guiding fundamentals of optical design and engineering, the principles section includes a summary of microdisplay or laser sources, the Lagrange invariant for understanding the trade-offs in optical design of HWDs, modes of image presentation (i.e., monocular, biocular, and stereo) and operational modes such as optical and video see-through. A brief summary of the human visual system pertinent to the design of HWDs is provided. Two optical design forms, namely, pupil forming and non-pupil forming are discussed. We summarize the results from previous design work using aspheric, diffractive, or holographic elements to achieve compact and lightweight systems. The applications section is organized in terms of field of view requirements and presents a reasonable collection of past designs

Head-worn displays: a review

Biosensor, communicator, and/or controller apparatus, systems, and methods are provided for monitoring movement of a person's eye. The apparatus includes a device configured to be worn on a user's head, a light source for directing light towards one or both eyes of the user, one or more image guides on the device for viewing one or both eyes of the user, and one or more cameras carried on the device and coupled to the image guides for acquiring images of the eyes and/or the user's surroundings. The apparatus may include a cable and/or a transmitter for transmitting image data from the camera to a remote location, e.g., to processor and/or display for analyzing and/or displaying the image data. A system including the apparatus may be used to monitor one or more oculometric parameters, e.g., pupillary response, and/or to control a computer using the user's eyes instead of a mouse.

Biosensors, communicators, and controllers monitoring eye movement and methods for using them

The eye-tracking system is based on the reflection of four light emitting diodes (LED)s at the cornea of user's eve. The LEDs emit infrared light at 900 nanometers and the virtual images formed behind the cornea as well as a near infrared image of the pupil are displayed on a charged couple device (CCD) sensor. The optical system used to display virtual environments is also used to conjugate the virtual images of the LEDs to the CCD sensor. This optimizes the integration of eyetracking system into the head mounted device (HMD). The four LEDs are laid out around the imaging (optical) system and their beam (rays) impinge directly on the eye by reflection on the hot mirror. Then the light reflected by the cornea is reflected again by the hot mirror, goes through the optical system and the cold mirror to be imaged on the sensor. The whole eye is illuminated by near infrared light and the contrast between the dark pupil and the bright iris on the CCD sensor allows knowledge of the location of the center of the entrance pupil. The processing of the location of the cornea images and the center of the entrance pupil leads to determine the sight direction.

Head mounted display with eyetracking capability

Our wafer scale processing techniques produce chip-laser-diodes with a diffraction grating (78) that redirects output light out the top (88) and/or bottom surfaces. Generally, a diffraction grating (78) and integrated lens-grating (78) are used herein to couple light from the chip to an output fiber (74), and the lens-grating (78) is spaced from the diffraction grating (76). Preferably the diffraction grating (76) and integrated lens grating (78) are also used to couple light from the output fiber (74) back to the active region of the chip. The integrated lens-grating (78) can be in a coupling block (82). The use of a coupling block (82) can eliminate 'facet-type damage'. A coupling block (82) is generally used herein to couple light from the chip to an output fiber (74), and preferably to couple feedback reflected from the fiber (74) back to the chip.

/pdf/laser-to-fiber-coupling-4jxbnh9w7q.pdf

Laser-to-fiber coupling

We report on a high efficiency tapered grating surface-emitting laser with an antireflection-structured (ARS) substrate. A 64% improvement of the device efficiency is obtained by monolithic integration of a sawtooth-shaped ARS on the GaAs substrate. Slope efficiencies of 0.82 W/A were measured at 975 nm in pulse pumping and are mainly limited by free-carrier absorption in the n-doped GaAs substrate. A maximum peak power of 25 W was obtained without coating the device's cleaved facet. The symmetry of the near-field intensity profile along the grating coupler is improved by varying the grating duty cycle from 20% to 55%.

High efficiency surface-emitting laser with subwavelength antireflection structure

Wafer scale processing techniques produce chip-laser-diodes with an active region (62) and a diffraction grating (76) that redirects output light out the top and/or bottom surfaces. The diffraction grating (76) redirects a novel feedback from the optical output (e.g., fiber (74)) to produce lasing that self-aligns itself to the fiber input, reducing assembly costs. Preferably, a diffraction grating (76) and integrated lens-grating are used herein to couple light from the chip to an output fiber (74), and the lens-grating is spaced from the diffraction grating (76). Combination grating and additional gratings and/or integrated lenses on the top or bottom of the diode can also be made utilizing wafer scale processes.

Laser diode with output fiber feedback

We investigate a novel surface-emitting superluminescent diode configuration that uses two detuned grating outcouplers to suppress lasing. This device exhibits a shaped beam with a peak power of 1.5 W quasi-continuous wave with an 11 nm bandwidth centered on 970 nm.

Laurent Vaissie

Papers

Head mounted display with eyetracking capability

Laser-to-fiber coupling

High efficiency surface-emitting laser with subwavelength antireflection structure

Laser diode with output fiber feedback

Crossed-beam superluminescent diode