SPATIALLY AND TIME VARYING POLARIZATION CORRECTION OPTIC FOR SCAN BEAM SYSTEMS

The present disclosure related generally to techniques for improving the performance and efficiency of display systems, such as laser scan beam display systems or other types of display systems (e.g., micro-displays) of an HMD or other device. Display systems of the present disclosure may include a polarization compensation optic, such as a spatially varying polarizer, that provides phase retardation that varies as a function of position, which provides polarization compensation to provide light that is well suited for a polarization sensitive optic of the display system, such as a waveguide-based optical system, a pancake optical system, a birdbath optical system, a coating-based optical system, etc. The spatially varying polarizer may be varied spatially in real-time based on a user's gaze location to provide an optimized field of view in a region where the user is known or inferred to be gazing, thereby providing improved optical performance.