In a process of manufacturing the volume holographic element, a holographic material layer is irradiated with reference light from the side of a second substrate in the oblique direction, and the holographic material layer is vertically irradiated with object light from the side of a first substrate in an interference exposure process. Since a first translucent anti-reflective layer is formed on the first surface of the first substrate, it is difficult that situation in which the reference light is reflected in the first surface in the oblique direction occurs. In addition, since a second translucent anti-reflective layer is formed on the second surface of the second substrate, it is difficult that a situation in which the object light is reflected in the second surface occurs.

Holographic volume gratings in waveguide cells can be recorded using many different methods and systems in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. One embodiment includes a holographic recording system including at least one laser source configured to emit recording beams and a movable platform configured to move between a first position and a second position, wherein when the movable platform is in the first position, the at least one laser source is configured to emit a first set of one or more recording beams toward a first set of one or more stations and when the movable platform is in the second position, the at least one laser source is configured to emit a second set of one or more recording beams toward a second set of one or more stations.

Mastering systems and methods of fabricating waveguides and waveguide devices using such mastering systems are described. Mastering systems for fabricating holographic waveguides can include using a master to control the application of energy (e.g. a laser, light, or magnetic beam) onto a liquid crystal substrate to fabricate a holographic waveguide into the liquid crystal substrate. Mastering systems for fabricating holographic waveguides in accordance with embodiments of the invention can include a variety of features. These features include, but are not limited to: chirp for single input beam copy (near i.e. hybrid contact copy), dual chirped gratings (for input and output), zero order grating for transmittance control, alignment reference gratings, 3:1 construction, position adjustment tooling to enable rapid alignment, optimization of lens and window thickness for multiple RKVs simultaneously, and avoidance of other orders and crossover of the diffraction beam.

A system includes a laser emitting a laser beam, a beam expander expanding the laser beam, a beam splitter prism splitting the expanded laser beam into first and second split light beams, a liquid crystal box containing polymer-dispersed liquid crystal, first and second reflectors reflecting the first and second split light beams to the liquid crystal box, respectively, and an attenuator arranged on an optical path between the beam expander and the liquid crystal box. The attenuator gradually attenuates at least one of the laser beam, the expanded laser beam, the first split light beam, or the second split light beam along a first set curve. The first split light beam and the second split light beam form interference fringes at the liquid crystal box to expose the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal to form a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal holographic grating having a diffraction efficiency decreasing along a second set curve.

A backlight unit for a holographic display is provided. The backlight unit includes: at least one light source; at least one input coupler; a light guide panel (LGP) that guides light; a first holographic element on a first surface of the LGP; and a second holographic element on a second surface of the LGP, wherein the at least one input coupler is configured to uniformly transmit rays emitted from the at least one light source toward the first holographic element through the LGP, and the LGP is configured to transmit the rays incident from the at least one input coupler toward the first holographic element, and the first holographic element redirects the rays toward the second holographic element, the redirected rays being substantially parallel to one another, and the second holographic element emits rays incident from the first holographic element toward an outside of the LGP.

A holographic skew mirror has a reflective axis, or skew axis, that can be tilted with respect to its surface normal. Tilting the skew axis in two dimensions with respect to the surface normal expands the holographic skew mirror's possible field of view, e.g., to 60 or more. These additional angles can be accessed using an out-of-plane writing geometry with matched total internal grazing extension rotation (TIGER) prisms.

Methods and systems for projecting wave fields use a diffusing medium, a wavefront shaper, an illumination source, and a control system. A system for projecting an object wave field into a projection volume includes a wave scatterer, a wave field projector configured to project a wave field onto the wave scatterer, and a controller coupled to the wave field projector. The controller is configured to cause the wave field projector to project a wave field that, upon interacting with the wave scatterer, is redirected to form an object wave field that forms a predetermined pattern in the projection volume.

An illumination device has a coherent light source, an optical device that diffuses the plurality of coherent light beams and illuminates a predetermined illumination area, and a timing control unit that individually controls incident timing of the plurality of coherent light beams to the optical device or illumination timing of the illumination area, wherein the optical device has a plurality of diffusion regions, the diffusion regions being provided corresponding to the plurality of coherent light beams, the plurality of diffusion regions illuminate the illumination range by diffusion of incident coherent light beams, the plurality of diffusion regions have a plurality of element diffusion regions, the plurality of element diffusion regions illuminate partial regions in the illumination area by diffusion of incident coherent light beams, and at least parts of the partial regions illuminated by the plurality of element diffusion regions are different from one another.

The present disclosure describes Augmented Reality (AR) methods and systems allowing one or more user to observe a virtual image (e.g., computer generated image) overlaid on a physical scene (e.g., actual real life surroundings). Embodiments herein allow components of the AR methods and systems to be decoupled from each other, such that a user is able to view a virtual image overlaid on a physical scene while simply wearing thin, lightweight holographic spectacles.

An optical system comprises a plurality of optical channels. A control unit can switch light sources of the optical channels separately on and off. In this way, different image motifs of a hologram can be illuminated by a number of different illumination sources of at least one imaging holographic optical element.