Jade Bird Display (JBD), a manufacturer of microLED displays, and Tooz technologies, a start-up and joint venture of Zeiss and Deutsche Telekom that makes optical engines, are partnering to develop prescription smart glasses with full colour virtual screens.
A first demonstration is being unveiled this week at the SPIE Photonics West AR VR MR 2022 exhibition in San Francisco.
The new glasses will combine a colour microLED display engine by JBD and a curved waveguide by Tooz, resulting in full colour virtual screens in a slim form factor that fulfil the essential function – individual vision correction – of everyday glasses.
For the joint solution, JBD provides a display engine that combines three monochrome microLED display panels with an x-cube to form a polychrome display. The red, green and blue 0.13 inch panels are aligned to the sides of a 5mm x-cube resulting in a total volume of 0.72cm2. The JBD module is then attached to the curved waveguide lens by Tooz. With several high precision free-form surfaces, the lens guides the light from the x-cube to the wearer’s eye without the need for any additional separate optical elements.
According to the company, Tooz’s optics is currently the only curved waveguide lens on the market that allows integration of vision correction.
The screens on the demonstrable model are brighter compared to former displays while consuming less battery power. One of the main levers to achieve this is an optimisation of the wavelength-dependent efficiency of the waveguide to the individual display characteristics, allowing to boost the red microLED colour.
Consequently, the augmentation is easier to see under high ambient lighting conditions, e.g., in bright daylight. The decrease in power consumption allows for all-day usage of the wearable in a slim form factor.
At Photonics West’s SPIE AR VR MR 2022 exhibition, JBD will be present to demonstrate the first results of the newly formed strategic partnership. In a joint talk on stage, Qiming Li, CEO at JBD, and Dr Frank-Oliver Karutz, CTO at tooz, will provide inclusive insights.
