Patterning technologies for AR waveguides

A key technical challenge for AR devices is to improve optical performance and efficiency while simultaneously shrinking component size and cost, most critically for large components related to waveguide displays. Recent advances in optical meta-surfaces show promise in for these applications but significant hurdles remain to achieve the required feature complexity in the needed materials at a reasonable cost. A robust ecosystem for advanced patterning exists within the semiconductor industry, offering the potential to adapt existing tooling and methods to the materials and requirements of AR waveguides. This talk will describe some of the key challenges for AR display optics, including waveguides, how existing nanofabrication capabilities from the CMOS industry can be leveraged to address them, and where new developments are needed.