<title>Diffractive optics for head-mounted displays</title>

Diffractive optics have the potential to play a key role in several areas of head mounted displays. They can reduce size and weight while providing some unique optical functions that would be difficult to implement with conventional refractives. There are four areas in which diffractive optics may contribute: Magnifier optics, combiner optics, head and hand tracking, and optical data interface. This paper is primarily concerned with the introduction of a new image combiner element based on Babinet's principle.