P‐171: Late‐News Poster: Ultra‐light Liquid Crystal Lenses for AR and VR

Head mounted display systems are widely available, yet there remain key technical challenges to increase their utility in the market. One such challenge is the conflict for human vision between accommodation and vergence when viewing virtual images. At worst this leads to an uncomfortable viewing experience and at best it limits the stereoscopic range. The transition from fixed focal length optics to systems that can be tuned to match the virtual content promises to change to this paradigm. In this paper we describe a tunable liquid crystal lens based on Fresnel optics that allows variable focus of the virtual image. Crucially this is the first time this type of lens has been made with ultra‐thin, light bioplastic films instead of glass, uniquely enabling attractive product form factors.