Wide-field-of-view and high-resolution waveguide display based on the coupling-collimation system

Waveguide display is a common augmented reality (AR) solution. In traditional waveguide display systems, the design of the couplers and the design of the collimators are separated. In order to achieve high imaging resolution under a large field of view, complex collimating lens groups are often required. In this work, a waveguide display scheme based on the coupling-collimation system is proposed. This system consists of a freeform liquid crystal diffractive optical element on the waveguide and a freeform element outside the waveguide, replacing the conventional in-coupler and collimator. Through the overall optimization of the coupling-collimation system, a wide-field-of-view and high-resolution waveguide display can be realized with a simple and compact structure. We demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of this scheme by exemplifying several design results. The proposed scheme is expected to facilitate the design of waveguide displays with higher performance.