CN116964511A

CN116964511A - Optical waveguide device and method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN116964511A
Application number: CN202280002826.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张雅琴; 黄河; 楼歆晔; 林涛
Original assignee: Shanghai Kunyou Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Kunyou Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-10-27
Filing date: 2022-08-25
Publication date: 2023-10-27
Also published as: CN116027475A; WO2023071474A1

Abstract

An optical waveguide device (1) and a method thereof. The optical waveguide device (1) comprises: a waveguide substrate (10), wherein the waveguide substrate (10) has a first surface (11) and a second surface (12) parallel to each other; an optical incoupling mechanism (20), wherein the optical incoupling mechanism (20) is disposed on the waveguide substrate (10), and the optical incoupling mechanism (20) has a functional surface (200) inclined with respect to the first surface (11) of the waveguide substrate (10) for coupling light into the waveguide substrate (10) by reflection or refraction so that the light is transmitted between the first surface (11) and the second surface (12) of the waveguide substrate (10) in a total reflection manner; and a grating working mechanism (30), wherein the grating working mechanism (30) is formed on the waveguide substrate (10) and is used for coupling the light out of the waveguide substrate (10) in a diffusing manner by diffraction so as to improve the light energy utilization efficiency while ensuring mass production.

Description

[ title of invention by ISA according to rule 37.2 ] an optical waveguide device and method for manufacturing the same

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of augmented reality, in particular to an optical waveguide device, a method and equipment thereof.

Background

Augmented reality is a technology of integrating virtual world information with real world information in a "seamless" manner, in which pixels on a micro projector are projected into a human eye through an optical combiner, and the real world is seen through the optical combiner at the same time, that is, virtual content provided by the micro projector and the real environment are superimposed on the same screen or space in real time to coexist, so that a user obtains a virtual and reality fused experience. Therefore, one of the design requirements of the optical combiner is that the optical combiner cannot block the front view, and has high transmittance.

The mature augmented reality technology in the current market is mainly divided into a prism scheme, a free-form surface scheme, a Bird path scheme, an optical waveguide scheme and the like. However, the optical waveguide is the best augmented reality scheme at present in terms of optical effect, appearance and mass production prospect, and has excellent development potential. It is well known that the basis of optical waveguides is a thin, transparent glass substrate (typically of the order of a few millimeters or sub-millimeters in thickness) such that light proceeds by total reflection back and forth between the upper and lower surfaces of the glass substrate, i.e., when the refractive index of the transmission medium is greater than that of the surrounding medium and the angle of incidence in the waveguide is greater than the critical angle for total reflection, the light can undergo total reflection within the optical waveguide for leak-free transmission. Thus, after the image light from the projector is coupled into the optical waveguide, the image light continues to propagate within the optical waveguide without loss until it is coupled out by a subsequent structure.

Currently, waveguides on the market are generally divided into geometric array waveguides and diffractive optical waveguides. The geometric array optical waveguide realizes the output of images and the expansion of a moving orbit through the stacking of the array reflectors, and although the image quality and the efficiency can reach higher level, a plurality of half-reflecting and half-transmitting mirror surfaces are required to be coated, laminated, cut, ground and polished, so that the manufacturing process flow is tedious, the overall yield is lower, and the geometric array optical waveguide is not suitable for industrial mass production. The diffraction optical waveguide mainly comprises a surface relief grating waveguide manufactured by utilizing a photoetching technology and a holographic body grating waveguide manufactured based on a holographic interference technology, and has the problems of rainbow phenomenon and halation of an image, low efficiency and the like caused by grating diffraction, but has obvious advantages in terms of production process because of extremely high design freedom and mass productivity caused by nano imprinting processing.

However, although the conventional diffraction optical waveguide can use an incoupling grating such as a rectangular grating, a sawtooth grating or an inclined grating to couple visible light into the waveguide, the coupling efficiency of the waveguide is low due to diffraction loss of the grating. For example, when the grating period of the coupling-in grating ranges from 200nm to 1um and light incident in a certain angle range is diffracted by the coupling-in grating, the coupling-in efficiency of the rectangular grating is not higher than 20%, and the coupling-in efficiency of the sawtooth grating and the inclined grating is not higher than 40%. In addition, since a certain limitation is also required to be made on the structural morphology of the coupling-in grating in view of mass productivity in the actual process manufacturing, the final coupling-in efficiency of the coupling-in grating may be lower.

Disclosure of Invention

An advantage of the present invention is to provide an optical waveguide device, and a method and apparatus thereof, which can improve light energy utilization efficiency while securing mass production.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide an optical waveguide device, and a method and apparatus thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, the optical waveguide device can achieve a balance between light energy utilization efficiency and mass productivity, so as to facilitate expansion of commercial utility value thereof.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide an optical waveguide device, and a method and apparatus thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, the optical waveguide device can couple light into a waveguide substrate by reflection or refraction, so as to greatly improve the coupling efficiency, and thus greatly improve the light energy utilization efficiency.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide an optical waveguide device, and a method and apparatus thereof, in which the optical waveguide device can realize high-brightness image display without configuring a high-power projection light engine, so as to avoid increasing the heat dissipation burden of the projection light engine.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide an optical waveguide device, and a method and apparatus thereof, in which the optical waveguide device can achieve light coupling using only inclined sides, and not only can improve light coupling efficiency, but also can further reduce the volume and weight of the optical waveguide so as to meet the current trend of miniaturization and light-thinning.

Another advantage of the present invention is that an optical waveguide device, and method and apparatus thereof, is provided in which expensive materials or complex structures are not required in the present invention in order to achieve the above objects. The present invention thus successfully and efficiently provides a solution that not only provides an optical waveguide device and method and apparatus thereof, but also increases the practicality and reliability of the optical waveguide device and method and apparatus thereof.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide an optical waveguide device, a method and an apparatus thereof, wherein a projection light engine of an augmented reality apparatus is implemented as a laser beam scanning optical machine, which can compensate for dispersion and distortion effects of light rays of three colors of red, green and blue caused by diffraction of a waveguide grating of the optical waveguide device, so that three-color images projected by the laser beam scanning optical machine can be displayed in a normal superposition manner.

To achieve at least one of the above or other advantages and objects, the present invention provides an optical waveguide device comprising:

a waveguide substrate, wherein the waveguide substrate has a first surface and a second surface parallel to each other;

an optical incoupling mechanism, wherein the optical incoupling mechanism is arranged on the waveguide substrate, and the optical incoupling mechanism is provided with a functional surface inclined relative to the first surface of the waveguide substrate and is used for coupling light into the waveguide substrate in a reflecting or refracting way so as to transmit the light in a total reflection way between the first surface and the second surface of the waveguide substrate; and

And the grating working mechanism is formed on the waveguide substrate and used for coupling the light out of the waveguide substrate in a diffusion manner through diffraction.

According to an embodiment of the application, the waveguide substrate further has an inclined side surface and the inclined side surface has a predetermined angle with the first surface, wherein the inclined side surface of the waveguide substrate is implemented as the functional surface of the light incoupling means.

According to an embodiment of the application, the inclined side of the waveguide substrate is adapted to face a projection light engine such that image light projected via the projection light engine is refracted at the inclined side of the waveguide substrate to couple into the waveguide substrate.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the light coupling-in mechanism includes an antireflection film, wherein the antireflection film is disposed on the inclined side surface of the waveguide substrate.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the preset included angle satisfies the following conditions:

wherein n is the refractive index of the waveguide substrate; θ ₀ The preset included angle is set; θ is the angle between the image ray and the normal of the first surface.

According to an embodiment of the application, the light incoupling mechanism is implemented as a reflective element, wherein the reflective element is correspondingly arranged at the inclined side of the waveguide substrate, and the first surface of the waveguide substrate is adapted to face a projection light engine such that image light projected via the projection light engine is reflected at the inclined side of the waveguide substrate for incoupling into the waveguide substrate.

According to an embodiment of the application, the reflective element comprises a reflective film, wherein the reflective film is provided on the inclined side of the waveguide substrate.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the reflective element further includes a prism, wherein the reflective film is plated on a slope of the prism, and the slope of the prism is correspondingly attached to the inclined side of the waveguide substrate.

According to an embodiment of the application, the first side of the prism intersects the second surface of the waveguide substrate in parallel and the second side of the prism intersects the first surface of the waveguide substrate perpendicularly.

According to an embodiment of the application, the light incoupling mechanism is implemented as a refractive prism, wherein the refractive prism has an incoupling side face and a slope extending obliquely with respect to the incoupling side face, wherein the slope of the refractive prism is correspondingly attached to the second surface of the waveguide substrate, and the incoupling side face of the refractive prism serves as the functional face of the light incoupling mechanism.

According to an embodiment of the application, the grating working mechanism is implemented as a two-dimensional grating, wherein the two-dimensional grating is formed on the first surface or the second surface of the waveguide substrate, and is configured to diffract the light transmitted in the waveguide substrate, so that the light is coupled out of the waveguide substrate in a two-dimensional diffusion manner.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the grating working mechanism is composed of a one-dimensional turning grating and a one-dimensional coupling-out grating, wherein the one-dimensional turning grating is formed on the first surface or the second surface of the waveguide substrate, and is used for changing the direction of the light traveling in the waveguide substrate by means of diffraction and diffusing the light along one direction, and the one-dimensional coupling-out grating is correspondingly formed on the first surface or the second surface of the waveguide substrate, and is used for diffusing the light which is turned by the one-dimensional turning grating along the other direction and coupling out of the waveguide substrate.

According to an embodiment of the application, the grating working mechanism is implemented as a one-dimensional outcoupling grating, wherein the one-dimensional outcoupling grating has a one-dimensional diffusion path, and the functional surface of the light incoupling mechanism extends along a direction perpendicular to the one-dimensional diffusion path for diffusing the light coupled in via the light incoupling mechanism along the one-dimensional diffusion path and out of the waveguide substrate.

According to another aspect of the present application, an embodiment of the present application further provides a method of manufacturing an optical waveguide device, including the steps of:

Manufacturing a mother board, wherein the mother board is provided with a grating structure to be transferred, which corresponds to the grating working mechanism; and

the grating working mechanism is formed on the surface of the waveguide substrate by utilizing the motherboard in a nano imprinting mode; and

an optical coupling-in mechanism is arranged on the waveguide substrate, wherein the optical coupling-in mechanism is provided with a functional surface inclined relative to the surface of the waveguide substrate and is used for coupling light into the waveguide substrate in a refraction or reflection mode, and the grating working mechanism is used for coupling the light out of the waveguide substrate in a diffraction mode in a diffusion mode.

According to an embodiment of the present application, an inclined surface is cut out from a side edge of the waveguide substrate to serve as the functional surface of the light coupling-in mechanism.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is further provided an augmented reality device, including:

a setting main body;

a projection light engine; and

the projection light engine and the optical waveguide device are correspondingly arranged on the equipment main body, so that image light provided by the projection light engine is coupled into the optical waveguide device in a reflection or refraction mode and is coupled out of the optical waveguide device in a diffraction mode, and accordingly the eyes of a user can receive the corresponding image.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the optical waveguide device includes:

a grating working mechanism formed on the waveguide substrate for coupling the light out of the waveguide substrate in a diffraction manner

According to an embodiment of the present application, the projection light engine includes a laser beam scanning light machine, and when the image source includes a plurality of monochromatic images of different colors, the laser beam scanning light machine is configured to modulate and project the monochromatic image light of different colors, and the modulation is configured to compensate for chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of the monochromatic image light of different colors by the grating working mechanism.

According to some embodiments of the application, the laser beam scanning optical machine is configured to project monochromatic image light with different colors at different angles, so that when the monochromatic image light with different colors is transmitted and emitted through the optical waveguide device, overlapping display of the monochromatic images with different colors is realized.

According to some embodiments of the application, the laser beam scanning engine is configured to angularly scan each image pixel in a monochromatic image of a different color to project a corresponding image light. According to another aspect of the present application, the present application further provides

A method for calibrating a laser beam scanning optical machine for an optical waveguide device, the method comprising the steps of:

(A) Respectively projecting image light corresponding to a plurality of monochromatic images with different colors through the laser beam scanning optical machine, and respectively imaging and displaying the image light after passing through the optical waveguide device; and

(B) When the display position of the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light reaches the target position, recording the corresponding scanning angle of each image pixel in the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light;

The optical waveguide device couples in light rays in a reflection or refraction mode and couples out light rays in a diffraction mode; the plurality of monochromatic images with different colors are color images when displayed in superposition; the adjustment of the scanning angle is used for compensating chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of the image light with different colors.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is further provided a method of displaying an image in an augmented reality device, the augmented reality device comprising a projection light engine implemented as a laser beam scanning machine and an optical waveguide device, the optical waveguide device being a hybrid optical waveguide device, the hybrid optical waveguide device coupling in light by reflection or refraction and coupling out light by diffraction, characterized in that the method of displaying an image comprises the steps of:

the laser beam scanning optical machine projects image light corresponding to each monochromatic image according to scanning angles corresponding to the monochromatic images of different colors, and the image light is coupled into the optical waveguide device through reflection or refraction and is transmitted to the grating working mechanism through total reflection in the optical waveguide device, and is diffracted out of the optical waveguide device for imaging;

The projection modulation of the image light by the corresponding scanning angles of the monochromatic images with different colors is used for compensating chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of the image light with different colors.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the image light projected by the laser beam scanning optical machine is reflected or refracted by a reflective film, coupled into the optical waveguide device, and transmitted to the grating working mechanism by total reflection, and then diffracted out of the optical waveguide device to display an image.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the image light projected by the laser beam scanning optical machine is refracted by the refraction prism, coupled into the optical waveguide device for total reflection, and diffracted out of the optical waveguide device for displaying an image.

According to an embodiment of the application, the light coupled into the light guiding means is coupled out of the light guiding means by a two-dimensional grating.

According to an embodiment of the application, the light coupled into the light guiding means is coupled out of the light guiding means by one or more one-dimensional coupling-out gratings.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the light coupled into the optical waveguide device changes the light diffusion angle through a turning grating and couples the light out of the optical waveguide device through a one-dimensional coupling-out grating.

Further objects and advantages of the present application will become fully apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present application will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an optical waveguide device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic optical path diagram of the optical waveguide device according to the above embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the coupling-in principle of the optical waveguide device according to the above-described embodiment of the application.

Fig. 4 shows a first variant of the optical waveguide device according to the above-described embodiment of the application.

Fig. 5 shows a second variant of the optical waveguide device according to the above-described embodiment of the application.

Fig. 6 shows a third variant of the optical waveguide device according to the above-described embodiment of the application.

Fig. 7 shows a fourth variant of the optical waveguide device according to the above-described embodiment of the application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural view of an augmented reality apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, which is implemented as AR glasses configured with an optical waveguide device.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of another augmented reality device according to an embodiment of the present application, which is implemented as an AR-HUD configured with an optical waveguide arrangement.

Fig. 10 is a flow chart of a method of fabricating an integrated optical waveguide device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 illustrates a schematic diagram of a calibration process of a projection light engine of an augmented reality device according to the above embodiment of the application.

Fig. 12 illustrates an uncorrected dispersion, pre-distortion K-field plot of a projection light engine of an augmented reality device according to an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 13 illustrates a projected image of an augmented reality device before a projection light engine is uncalibrated according to the above embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 illustrates an image displayed after light projected before the projection light engine of the augmented reality device is uncalibrated passes through the optical waveguide device according to the above embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 15 illustrates a K-domain diagram of the corrected dispersion, distortion of the projection light engine of an augmented reality device according to the above embodiment of the application.

Fig. 16 illustrates a projected image after calibration of a projection light engine of an augmented reality device according to the above embodiment of the application.

Fig. 17 illustrates an image displayed after light projected by the projection light engine of the augmented reality device according to the above embodiment of the application passes through the optical waveguide device.

Detailed Description

The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. The preferred embodiments in the following description are by way of example only and other obvious variations will occur to those skilled in the art. The basic principles of the invention defined in the following description may be applied to other embodiments, variations, modifications, equivalents, and other technical solutions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that in the present disclosure, the terms "longitudinal," "transverse," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," etc. refer to an orientation or positional relationship based on that shown in the drawings, which is merely for convenience of description and to simplify the description, and do not indicate or imply that the apparatus or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore the above terms should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

In the present invention, the terms "a" and "an" in the claims and specification should be understood as "one or more", i.e. in one embodiment the number of one element may be one, while in another embodiment the number of the element may be plural. The terms "a" and "an" are not to be construed as unique or singular, and the term "the" and "the" are not to be construed as limiting the amount of the element unless the amount of the element is specifically indicated as being only one in the disclosure of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "first," "second," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. In the description of the present invention, unless explicitly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "connected," "connected," and "connected" should be interpreted broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected; can be mechanically or electrically connected; may be directly connected or indirectly connected through a medium. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art according to the specific circumstances.

In the description of the present specification, a description referring to terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "examples," "specific examples," or "some examples," etc., means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, schematic representations of the above terms are not necessarily directed to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, the different embodiments or examples described in this specification and the features of the different embodiments or examples may be combined and combined by those skilled in the art without contradiction.

In recent years, with the rapid development of augmented reality technology, devices or apparatuses capable of implementing augmented reality are becoming more popular and used. However, the conventional geometric optical waveguide can achieve a higher level of image quality and light energy utilization efficiency, but cannot realize mass production due to the complicated manufacturing process flow and lower overall yield, while the conventional diffraction optical waveguide can realize mass production, but has lower light energy coupling efficiency due to grating coupling, and is difficult to meet the high quality requirements of AR products on image contrast, brightness and the like. Accordingly, in order to solve the above-described problems, the present application provides an optical waveguide device capable of improving the light energy utilization efficiency while securing mass production to achieve a good balance between product performance and mass productivity.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, an optical waveguide device according to an embodiment of the present application is illustrated, in which an optical waveguide device 1 is used to transmit image light projected via a projection light engine 2 into a user's eye, and external ambient light can be transmitted through the optical waveguide device 1 to be incident into the user's eye, so that the user obtains an augmented reality experience.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the optical waveguide device 1 may include a waveguide substrate 10, an optical incoupling mechanism 20, and a grating operating mechanism 30. The waveguide substrate 10 has a first surface 11 and a second surface 12 parallel to each other. The light incoupling mechanism 20 is disposed on the waveguide substrate 10, and the light incoupling mechanism 20 has a functional surface 200 inclined with respect to the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10 for coupling light into the waveguide substrate 10 by reflection or refraction so that the light is transmitted between the first surface 11 and the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10 in a total reflection manner. The grating working mechanism 30 is formed on the waveguide substrate 10 for coupling out the light diffusely out of the waveguide substrate 10 by means of diffraction.

It should be noted that, since the light coupling-in mechanism 20 of the optical waveguide device 1 couples light into the waveguide substrate 10 by reflection or refraction, so as to greatly improve light coupling efficiency and product performance, and the grating coupling-out mechanism 30 of the optical waveguide device 1 can retain the advantage of mass-producibility of the diffractive optical waveguide, the optical waveguide device 1 of the present application can ensure mass-production and improve light energy utilization efficiency, thereby better realizing the balance between product performance and mass-producibility.

More specifically, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, according to the above embodiment of the present application, the waveguide substrate 10 further has an inclined side 13, and the inclined side 13 has a predetermined angle θ with the first surface 11 ₀ Wherein the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 is adapted to face the projection light engine 2 such that image light projected via the projection light engine 2 is first refracted at the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 and then totally reflected at the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, such that the image light is transmitted in total reflection between the first surface 11 and the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10.

In other words, in the above-described embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 2, the inclined side surface 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 is implemented as the functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20, so that the functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20 is implemented as a refractive surface. In this way, the image light projected via the projection light engine 2 is refracted by the functional surface 200 of the light coupling-in mechanism 20 to be coupled into the waveguide substrate 10; thereafter, the image light coupled into the waveguide substrate 10 is totally reflected back and forth between the first surface 11 and the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10 to be transmitted to the grating coupling-out mechanism 30; finally, the image light is incident into the eyes of the user by diffraction of the grating coupling-out mechanism 30 to be coupled out of the waveguide substrate 10, so that the user can view a virtual image corresponding to the image light. It is understood that the waveguide substrate 10 may be implemented, but not limited to, as being made of a light-transmitting resin material, a light-transmitting polymer material, or the like.

It is to be noted that, as shown in fig. 3, when an image light ray having a field angle θ is incident from the air to the inclined side face 13 of the waveguide substrate 10, the incident angle θ of the image light ray ₁ ＝θ-θ ₀ The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the And the refraction angle theta of the image light is obtained after the image light is refracted by the waveguide substrate 10 with the refractive index n at the inclined side face 13 ₂ Satisfy the law of refraction n.sin theta ₂ ＝sinθ ₁ The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the And then totally reflected within the waveguide substrate 10 at an angle θ ', where θ' =θ ₀ +θ ₂ The angle θ 'needs to satisfy the total reflection condition, i.e., n×sin θ' > 1. Therefore, in order to ensure that the image light refracted at the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 is capable of total reflection at the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, the following condition is satisfied:

wherein: n is the refractive index of the waveguide substrate 10; θ ₀ The angle between the inclined side 13 and the first surface 11; θ is the angle between the image ray and the normal of the first surface 11.

Illustratively, the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 may be obtained by cutting the side of the waveguide substrate 10, that is, the side of the waveguide substrate 10 is cut with an inclined surface as the functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20, such that the image light projected through the projection light engine 2 is refracted at the functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20 to be coupled into the waveguide substrate 10, so that the incoupling efficiency of the light incoupling mechanism 20 of the light waveguide device 1 of the present application can be as high as 95% or more.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 2, the light coupling-in mechanism 20 may include an antireflection film 21, where the antireflection film 21 is disposed on the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10, for reducing reflection of the image light on the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10, so as to increase transmittance of the functional surface 200 of the light coupling-in mechanism 20, which helps to further improve coupling-in efficiency of the light coupling-in mechanism 20 of the light waveguide device 1. It will be appreciated that the anti-reflection film 21 may be provided on the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 by, but not limited to, a method such as plating or bonding.

According to the above-described embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the grating operating mechanism 30 of the optical waveguide device 1 may be implemented, but is not limited to, as a two-dimensional grating 31, wherein the two-dimensional grating 31 is formed on the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10 for diffracting the image light transmitted in the waveguide substrate 10 so that the image light transmitted in the waveguide substrate 10 is coupled out of the waveguide substrate 10 in a two-dimensional diffusion. It will be appreciated that when the image light transmitted within the waveguide substrate 10 encounters the two-dimensional grating 31 at the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10, the two-dimensional grating 31 diffracts the image light into diffracted light of different diffraction orders, such that diffracted light of one diffraction order is coupled out to be incident into the user's eye, while diffracted light of other diffraction orders continues to be transmitted in total reflection within the waveguide substrate 10 in different propagation directions to continue to be diffracted when encountering the two-dimensional grating 31 again, thereby achieving two-dimensional diffuse coupling of the image light out of the waveguide substrate 10. Of course, in other examples of the present application, the two-dimensional grating 31 may also be formed on the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, which will not be described in detail herein.

Furthermore, the two-dimensional grating 31 may be implemented as, but is not limited to, a relief grating or a holographic volume grating.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 2, the inclined side surface 13 has a predetermined angle θ with the first surface 11 ₀ Is acute such that the projection light engine 2 is located adjacent to a side of the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10. The image light is coupled out from the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10 to be incident into the eyes of the user, so that the projection light engine 2 and the eyes of the user are located on the same side of the optical waveguide device 1, facilitating the arrangement of the projection light engine 2 and the optical waveguide device 1 as AR glasses in a spectacle manner, such that the projection light engine 2 is placed at the temples of the AR glasses. It will be appreciated that in other examples of the application, the two-dimensional grating 31 may also be formed on the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, such that the image light is coupled out of the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10 to be incident into the user's eye, whereby the projection light engine 2 and the user's eye are located on opposite sides of the optical waveguide device 1.

It should be noted that the optical incoupling mechanism 20 and the grating working mechanism 30 in the optical waveguide device 1 of the present application may have other different structural configurations or be combined with the waveguide substrate 10 in other manners. In other words, the optical waveguide device 1 of the above-described embodiment of the present application can have various modifications, and can achieve a good balance between product performance and mass productivity.

Fig. 4 shows an exemplary first variant of the optical waveguide device 1 according to the above-described embodiment of the application. Specifically, the optical waveguide device 1 according to the first modified embodiment of the present application is different from the above-described example according to the present application in that: the light incoupling mechanism 20 may be implemented as a reflective element 22, wherein the reflective element 22 is correspondingly disposed on the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10, and the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10 is configured to face the projection light engine 2, such that the image light projected by the projection light engine 2 first passes through the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10 to be incident on the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10, and then after being reflected by the reflective element 22 back to the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, total reflection occurs at the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, so that the image light is transmitted in a total reflection manner between the first surface 11 and the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 4, the reflective element 22 may include a reflective film 221, where the reflective film 221 is disposed on the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 and is used for reflecting the image light, so that the image light incident from the first surface 11 is reflected back to the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, and still can improve the coupling efficiency of the light coupling mechanism 20 of the optical waveguide device 1. It will be appreciated that the optical waveguide device 1 of the first modified embodiment of the present application replaces the antireflection film 21 in the above-described example with the reflection film 221 so as to couple image light into the waveguide substrate 10 by reflection. Furthermore, the reflective element 22 may also be embodied as a mirror coated with a reflective coating.

More preferably, as shown in fig. 4, the reflecting element 22 may further include a prism 222 having an inclined surface 2221, wherein the reflecting film 221 is plated on the inclined surface 2221 of the prism 222, and the inclined surface 2221 of the prism 222 is correspondingly attached to the inclined side surface 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 such that the reflecting film 221 is located between the inclined surface 2221 of the prism 222 and the inclined side surface 13 of the waveguide substrate 10, so as to protect the reflecting film 221. At this time, the inclined surface 2221 of the prism 222 is implemented as the functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20. Of course, in other examples of the application, the reflective element 22 may not include the prism 222, and the reflective film 221 may be provided directly on the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10 by, but not limited to, plating or bonding.

Most preferably, as shown in fig. 4, the prism 222 of the reflective element 22 further has a first side 2222 and a second side 2223, wherein when the inclined surface 2221 of the prism 222 is correspondingly attached to the inclined side 13 of the waveguide substrate 10, the first side 2222 of the prism 222 intersects the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10 in parallel, and the second side 2223 of the prism 222 intersects the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10 perpendicularly, so as to form the optical waveguide device 1 with a rectangular structure, which is conducive to use as a display lens in AR glasses.

Fig. 5 shows a second variant of the optical waveguide device 1 according to the above-described embodiment of the application. Specifically, the optical waveguide device 1 according to the second modified embodiment of the present application is different from the above-described example according to the present application in that: the light incoupling mechanism 20 may also be implemented as a refractive prism 23 only, wherein the refractive prism 23 has an incoupling side 231 and a slope 232 extending obliquely with respect to the incoupling side 231, wherein the slope 232 of the refractive prism 23 is correspondingly attached to the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10, and the incoupling side 231 of the refractive prism 23 serves as the functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20 for the projection light engine 2, such that the image light projected via the projection light engine 2 is refracted at the incoupling side 231 of the refractive prism 23, then transmitted through the slope 232 of the refractive prism 23 and the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10 to propagate to the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, and then is totally reflected at the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, so that the image light is totally reflected between the first surface 11 and the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10. It will be appreciated that in this variant embodiment of the application, the waveguide substrate 10 may have a rectangular configuration, i.e. the waveguide substrate 10 is provided with vertical sides, without the need to provide inclined sides 13.

Preferably, the inclined surfaces 232 of the refractive prisms 23 are correspondingly glued to the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10. It is understood that the refractive index of the refractive prism 23 may be the same as or different from the refractive index of the waveguide substrate 10, specifically, the condition of total reflection should be achieved.

More preferably, the coupling-in side 231 of the refractive prism 23 is used for being perpendicular to the projection path of the projection light engine 2, so that the image light projected by the projection light engine 2 is perpendicularly incident to the coupling-in side 231 of the refractive prism 23, so as to minimize the reflection of the image light by the coupling-in side 231 of the refractive prism 23, and help to improve the coupling-in efficiency of the light coupling-in mechanism 20.

It should be noted that, after the light coupling-in mechanism 20 couples the image light into the waveguide substrate 10 by refraction or reflection, the propagation direction of the coupled image light is a direction away from the functional surface 200 of the light coupling-in mechanism 20. For example, in the above-described first modified embodiment of the present application, the propagation direction of the image light that is coupled in is a direction from the second side 2223 of the prism 222 to the first side 2222 of the prism 222.

Fig. 6 shows a third variant of the optical waveguide device 1 according to the above-described embodiment of the application. Specifically, the optical waveguide device 1 according to the third modified embodiment of the present application is different from the above-described second modified embodiment of the present application in that: the grating working mechanism 30 may be composed of a one-dimensional turning grating 32 and a one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33, wherein the one-dimensional turning grating 32 is formed on the first surface 11 or the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10, for changing the direction of propagation of the image light coupled in through the refractive prism 23 in the waveguide substrate 10 by diffraction and diffusing the image light in one direction, and wherein the one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33 is correspondingly formed on the second surface 12 of the waveguide substrate 10, for diffusing the deflected image light in the other direction and coupling out of the waveguide substrate 10. Of course, in other examples of the present application, the one-dimensional outcoupling grating 33 may be formed on the first surface 11 of the waveguide substrate 10, which is not described herein.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 6, the refractive prism 23 is located at the upper left corner of the waveguide substrate 10, with the one-dimensional turning grating 32 located at the right side of the prism 222, and the one-dimensional turning grating 32 corresponds to the other side of the refractive prism 23, with the one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33 located below the one-dimensional turning grating 32. Thus, the image light projected by the projection light engine 2 is diffracted after being refracted by the refraction prism 23 to be coupled into the waveguide substrate 10, the coupled-in image light is transmitted to the one-dimensional turning grating 32 in a total reflection manner from left to right in the waveguide substrate 10, so that a part of the image light is continuously transmitted in a total reflection manner from left to right to meet the one-dimensional turning grating 32 again to be diffracted, and another part of the image light is turned to be transmitted to the one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33 in a total reflection manner from top to bottom to be diffracted to be coupled out of the waveguide substrate 10.

In other words, in this variant embodiment of the application, first, the image light that is coupled in is transmitted laterally within the waveguide substrate 10 to the one-dimensional turning grating 32; next, the one-dimensional turning grating 32 diffracts the image light transmitted laterally so that a portion of the image light is still transmitted laterally to be diffracted again by the one-dimensional turning grating 32, and another portion of the image light is transmitted longitudinally to the one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33; finally, the one-dimensional outcoupling grating 33 diffracts the image light transmitted longitudinally, so that a part of the image light continues to be transmitted longitudinally to be diffracted again by the one-dimensional outcoupling grating 33, and another part of the image light is coupled out of the waveguide substrate 10, thereby achieving two-dimensional diffusion of the image light out of the waveguide substrate 10.

It should be noted that in the above-described embodiments and various modifications of the present application, the exit pupil of the projection light engine 2 is generally smaller, so that the optical waveguide device 1 continuously performs exit pupil replication and coupling out of the projected image light in two dimensions by the grating working mechanism 30, so as to obtain an eye box (eyebox) large enough in two dimensions for the user to view. However, in other examples of the application, the grating working mechanism 30 may also have the function of copying and coupling out the exit pupil in one dimension only, and the projection light engine 2 has a larger exit pupil in the other dimension to ensure that a sufficiently large eyebox is still available in two dimensions. At this time, the functional surface 200 of the light coupling mechanism 20 of the optical waveguide device 1 needs to be matched with the exit pupil size of the projection light engine 2 in order to couple the image light projected through the projection light engine 2 into the waveguide substrate 10 correspondingly.

Illustratively, fig. 7 shows a fourth variant of the optical waveguide device 1 according to the above-described embodiment of the application. Specifically, the optical waveguide device 1 according to the fourth modified embodiment of the present application is different from the above-described third modified embodiment of the present application in that: the grating working mechanism 30 only comprises a one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33, and the one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33 is provided with a one-dimensional diffusion path 330 for diffusing and coupling image light along the one-dimensional diffusion path 330; wherein the functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20 extends along a direction perpendicular to the one-dimensional diffusion path 330 of the one-dimensional incoupling grating 33, and the exit pupil of the projection light engine 2 covers the entire functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20, so that the light guiding device 1 can still diffusely couple image light coupled in via the light incoupling mechanism 20 out of the waveguide substrate 10, so as to obtain a sufficiently large eyebox (eyebox) in two dimensions for viewing by a user.

For example, as shown in fig. 7, the refractive prism 23 extends laterally, with the one-dimensional outcoupling grating 33 located below the refractive prism 23, and the one-dimensional diffusion path 330 of the one-dimensional outcoupling grating 33 being arranged longitudinally. At this time, the projection light engine 2 is correspondingly disposed such that the lateral exit pupil of the projection light engine 2 matches the coupling-in side 231 of the refractive prism 23, that is, the lateral exit pupil of the projection light engine 2 may be larger than the longitudinal exit pupil thereof, so that the projected image light can laterally cover the coupling-in side 231 of the refractive prism 23, so that an eye box having a certain size in two dimensions can be obtained.

It should be noted that the types of the one-dimensional turning grating 32 and the one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33 may be adjusted according to the specific requirements, for example, but not limited to, being implemented as a surface relief grating, so as to be formed on the surface of the waveguide substrate 10 by nano-imprint technology. Of course, in other examples of the application, the one-dimensional turning grating 32 and the one-dimensional coupling-out grating 33 may also be implemented as holographic gratings to form periodic light-dark alternate fringes or the like within the material by holographic exposure.

According to another aspect of the present application, as shown in fig. 8 and 9, the present application further provides an augmented reality device 4, wherein the augmented reality device 4 may include a projection light engine 2, a device body 40 and an optical waveguide device 1, wherein the projection light engine 2 and the optical waveguide device 1 are correspondingly disposed on the device body 40, such that image light provided via the projection light engine 2 is coupled into the waveguide substrate 10 by the light coupling mechanism 20 of the optical waveguide device 1, and after propagating to the grating working mechanism 30 in total reflection within the waveguide substrate 10, is diffusely coupled out of the waveguide substrate 10 by the grating working mechanism 30 to be received by the eyes of a user to see the corresponding image.

In an example of the present application, as shown in fig. 8, the device body 40 of the augmented reality device 4 may be implemented as a lens holder 41 including a beam portion 411 and a pair of temple portions 412, wherein the temple portions 412 extend rearward from left and right sides of the beam portion 411, respectively, to form the device body 40 having a frame structure. The optical waveguide device 1 is provided in the beam portion 411 as an eyeglass lens for near-eye display.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 8, the functional surface 200 of the light incoupling mechanism 20 in the light waveguide device 1 corresponds to the beam portion 411 of the spectacle frame 41; at this time, the projection light engine 2 is mounted to the beam portion 411 of the glasses frame 41 such that when the user wears the augmented reality device 4, the projection light engine 2 is correspondingly located near the forehead of the user, contributing to reserving a larger mounting space for the projection light engine 2.

Notably, the augmented reality device 4 may be implemented as a heads-up display (HUD) in addition to the augmented reality device 4 being implemented as AR glasses. As is well known, HUD is another very promising application of optical waveguide, and in particular, vehicle-mounted HUD can enable a vehicle owner to view related information of a vehicle without lowering his head when driving, and the eye sight does not need to switch back and forth between road conditions and a display, so as to ensure driving safety and comfort. The AR-HUD accurately combines the image information into the actual traffic road conditions through an optical system specially designed in the AR-HUD, projects the information such as tire pressure, speed, rotating speed and the like onto the front windshield, and reflects the information to form a far virtual image so as to enter human eyes, so that a user can observe prompt information fused with the actual traffic conditions through the display area of the front windshield. In addition, compared with the W-HUD commonly used in the market at present, the AR-HUD has a compact and light structure, and can greatly save the installation space in the vehicle, so that the AR-HUD has greater intuitiveness for users, and can intuitively guide drivers to advance by combining real road condition information and information such as virtual arrows and the like in real time, thereby avoiding the conditions of crossing and dispersing the attention of the drivers in driving.

Specifically, fig. 9 shows a modification of the augmented reality device 4 according to the above embodiment of the present application, in which the device body 40 of the augmented reality device 4 is implemented as a windshield 42, and the light waveguide device 1 is correspondingly disposed inside the windshield 42, so that the image light projected via the projection light engine 2 is projected to the windshield 42 after transmission via the light waveguide device 1, and is reflected inward via the windshield 42 to enter the eye, so that the user can see a virtual image at a far distance. It will be appreciated that in this variant embodiment of the application, the windscreen 42 in the augmented reality device 4 may be, but is not limited to being, implemented as a front windscreen of a vehicle such as an aircraft, car or the like, such that the augmented reality device 4 is implemented as an AR-HUD.

It should be noted that, like the above-mentioned AR glasses, the optical waveguide device 1 in the AR-HUD of the present application couples the image light projected through the projection light engine 2 into the waveguide substrate 10 by reflection or refraction of the light coupling mechanism 20, and diffusely couples the coupled image light out of the waveguide substrate 10 by diffraction of the grating working mechanism 30, so as to improve the light energy utilization efficiency on the basis of ensuring mass productivity. Unlike the vehicle-mounted HUD equipped with a general diffractive optical waveguide, in order to compensate for the low light energy utilization rate to provide image light with a high intensity in a sufficiently large eye box, the projection power of the projection light engine has to be greatly increased, which results in difficulty in heat dissipation of the projection light engine due to high power. In other words, the augmented reality device 4 of the present application can form a high contrast and high quality virtual image in front of the windshield 42 for viewing by a user only by using the projection light engine 2 having a small power.

According to another aspect of the present application, as shown in fig. 10, an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for manufacturing an optical waveguide device, which may include the steps of:

s110: manufacturing a mother board, wherein the mother board is provided with a grating structure to be transferred, which corresponds to the grating working mechanism 30;

s120: forming a grating working mechanism 30 on the surface of the waveguide substrate 10 by using a mother board through a nano imprinting method; and

s130: an optical incoupling mechanism 20 is disposed on the waveguide substrate 10, wherein the optical incoupling mechanism 20 is used for coupling light into the waveguide substrate 10 by refraction or reflection, and the grating working mechanism 30 is used for coupling the light out of the waveguide substrate 10 by diffraction.

It is noted that, according to the above embodiment of the present application, in step S110 of the manufacturing method of the optical waveguide device of the present application, the motherboard may be manufactured by a photolithography process. For example, lithographic processing methods may include, but are not limited to, laser direct writing, electron beam direct writing, mask lithography, dual beam interference exposure, and the like.

It should be noted that, the optical waveguide device provided by the present application is a hybrid optical waveguide device, where the hybrid refers to a mixture of a geometric mode and a diffraction mode, specifically, light rays emitted from a projection light engine are coupled into a waveguide substrate by an optical coupling-in mechanism in a reflection or refraction mode, and then the light rays are subjected to pupil expansion and coupling-out in the waveguide substrate by a grating working mechanism. Since the sum of diffraction vectors of light rays diffracted in the whole propagation process is no longer zero, dispersion and distortion can occur when the light rays are coupled out of the waveguide substrate. Fig. 12 is a K-domain diagram of diffraction coupling of color projection light from an optical waveguide device, and when the projection image shown in fig. 13 is projected by the projection light engine 2, the resulting display image is shown in fig. 14, and the images of different colors are separated, and the images of the same color are distorted due to diffraction, so that the projection light engine 2 needs to be calibrated to reduce or eliminate the dispersion and distortion. That is, when the image source includes a plurality of monochromatic images of different colors, the projection light engine needs to modulate the monochromatic images of different colors and then project the modulated monochromatic images, and the modulation is used for compensating chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of the monochromatic image light of different colors by the grating working mechanism, so that superposition display of the monochromatic images of different colors is realized.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides a laser beam scanning light engine adapted to a light waveguide device, the laser beam scanning light engine configured to modulate and project monochromatic image light of different colors, the modulation configured to compensate for chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of the monochromatic image light of different colors by a grating working mechanism.

The projection light engine 2 of the augmented reality device 4 may be implemented as a laser beam scanning light machine, which can compensate the dispersion and distortion effects of the monochromatic light caused by the waveguide grating diffraction of the grating working mechanism 30 of the optical waveguide device 1, so that the monochromatic images of different colors projected by the laser beam scanning light machine can be displayed in a normal superposition manner.

The laser scanning projection display technology utilizes the characteristics of good collimation and directivity of laser beam, utilizes scanning device such as turning mirror or vibrating mirror to scan laser beam to correspondent position at high speed, and utilizes the visual persistence effect of human eye to form complete face. The laser beam scanning optical machine can comprise a laser light source, an optical modulator, a beam scanning device, a laser beam combining device and a controller. The image signal is loaded on the light modulator, the intensity of the laser beam is controlled, and the synchronous signal is loaded on the scanning device (such as the optical deflector) to make the laser beam scan according to a certain rule to form an image.

Specifically, the laser beam scanning optical machine is used for projecting monochromatic image light with different colors in a split angle, so that when the monochromatic image light with different colors is transmitted and emitted through the optical waveguide device, superposition display of the monochromatic images with different colors is realized. Further, the laser beam scanning optical machine is used for scanning each image pixel in the monochromatic images with different colors in an angle to project corresponding image light.

The invention also provides a calibration method of the laser beam scanning optical machine adapting to the optical waveguide device, which comprises the following steps:

(A) Respectively projecting image light corresponding to a plurality of monochromatic images with different colors through a laser beam scanning optical machine, and respectively imaging and displaying the image light after passing through an optical waveguide device; and

(B) When image light of any color in image light of a plurality of monochromatic images with different colors is projected, the scanning angle of a laser beam scanning optical machine is adjusted to enable the display position of the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light to trend to a target position, and when the display position of the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light reaches the target position, the corresponding scanning angle of each image pixel in the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light is recorded;

the optical waveguide device couples in light rays in a reflection or refraction mode and couples out light rays in a diffraction mode; a plurality of monochromatic images with different colors are overlapped to be displayed as color images; the adjustment of the scanning angle is used for compensating chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of image light with different colors.

In practice, step (B) comprises: when the image light corresponding to each single-color image is projected, each image pixel of the single-color image is traversed, for the traversed image pixel, the scanning angle of the laser beam scanning optical machine is adjusted to enable the display position of the traversed image pixel to trend to the target position, and when the display position of the traversed image pixel reaches the target position, the corresponding scanning angle of the traversed image pixel is recorded until the corresponding scanning angle of each image pixel of the single-color image is recorded, so that the calibration of the single-color image is completed.

It will be appreciated that the target position in the above embodiment is a position where no dispersion and no distortion occur theoretically.

Referring to fig. 11, when a plurality of monochromatic images with different colors include a red image, a green image and a blue image, the images are calibrated after being coupled into the optical waveguide device 1 by the laser beam scanning optical machine image, and dispersion and distortion effects caused by waveguide grating diffraction of the grating working mechanism 30 of the optical waveguide device 1 are respectively compensated for by light rays of the red, green and blue images, so that the three-color images projected by the laser beam scanning optical machine can be displayed in a normal superposition manner. The invention can couple the image light in a reflection or refraction mode and couple the image light out in a diffraction mode by adapting the laser beam scanning optical machine for the hybrid optical waveguide device without generating dispersion and distortion.

More specifically, the calibration process of the laser beam scanning optical machine comprises the following steps: the calibration image source is divided into monochromatic images with different colors, such as RGB three-color images, and calibration is carried out respectively. The image pixel position displayed after passing through the optical waveguide device 1 is observed in real time by changing the angle of the image pixel projected by the laser beam scanning optical machine, the corresponding angle of the pixel is changed by continuous scanning, the pixel position displayed by the waveguide is finally approximated, the scanning angle (driving condition) of the pixel is solidified, and the pixel calibration is completed. This is repeated to achieve calibration of all pixels, as well as the three-color image. After the calibration is completed, the optical machine can directly call the driving conditions of image pixel calibration, and the final image of dispersion and distortion compensation can be obtained after the optical machine is coupled into the optical waveguide device 1.

The invention also provides a method for displaying an image in an augmented reality device, the augmented reality device comprising a projection light engine implemented as a laser beam scanning light machine and an optical waveguide device, the optical waveguide device being a hybrid optical waveguide device, the hybrid optical waveguide device coupling in light by reflection or refraction and coupling out light by diffraction, characterized in that the method for displaying an image comprises the steps of:

The laser beam scanning optical machine projects image light corresponding to each monochromatic image according to the scanning angles corresponding to the monochromatic images of different colors, the image light is coupled into the optical waveguide device through reflection or refraction, is transmitted to the grating working mechanism through total reflection in the optical waveguide device, and is diffracted out of the optical waveguide device for imaging;

As shown in fig. 15, a K-domain diagram of the laser beam scanning optical machine after calibration, in which the color projection light is coupled out of the optical waveguide device, and as shown in fig. 16, the projection image of the calibrated laser beam scanning device can be seen, in which the different color images in the projection image of the calibrated laser beam scanning device are separated and distorted, and the display image obtained after the laser beam scanning optical machine propagates in the optical waveguide device and is coupled out by grating diffraction is as shown in fig. 17, the three color images are overlapped in the display image to form white light, that is, the three colors can be overlapped for display. It can be seen that the separation of the projected image of the calibrated laser beam scanning device is used to compensate for the dispersion and distortion of the image caused by grating diffraction.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments of the invention described above and shown in the drawings are by way of example only and are not limiting. The objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively achieved. The functional and structural principles of the present invention have been shown and described in the examples and embodiments of the invention may be modified or practiced without departing from the principles described.

Claims

An optical waveguide device, comprising:

a waveguide substrate, wherein the waveguide substrate has a first surface and a second surface parallel to each other;

an optical incoupling mechanism, wherein the optical incoupling mechanism is arranged on the waveguide substrate, and the optical incoupling mechanism is provided with a functional surface inclined relative to the first surface of the waveguide substrate and is used for coupling light into the waveguide substrate in a reflecting or refracting way so as to transmit the light in a total reflection way between the first surface and the second surface of the waveguide substrate; and

and the grating working mechanism is formed on the waveguide substrate and used for coupling the light out of the waveguide substrate in a diffusion manner through diffraction.
The optical waveguide device of claim 1, wherein the waveguide substrate further has an inclined side and the inclined side has a predetermined angle with the first surface, wherein the inclined side of the waveguide substrate is implemented as the functional surface of the light incoupling mechanism.
The optical waveguide device of claim 2, wherein the angled side of the waveguide substrate is configured to face a projection light engine such that image light projected via the projection light engine is refracted at the angled side of the waveguide substrate to couple into the waveguide substrate.
The optical waveguide device of claim 3, wherein the light incoupling mechanism comprises an anti-reflection film, wherein the anti-reflection film is disposed on the inclined side of the waveguide substrate.
The optical waveguide device of claim 3, wherein the predetermined angle satisfies the following condition:

wherein n is the refractive index of the waveguide substrate; θ ₀ The preset included angle is set; θ is the angle between the image ray and the normal of the first surface.
The optical waveguide device of claim 2, wherein the light incoupling mechanism is implemented as a reflective element, wherein the reflective element is correspondingly disposed at the inclined side of the waveguide substrate, and the first surface of the waveguide substrate is configured to face a projection light engine such that image light projected via the projection light engine is reflected at the inclined side of the waveguide substrate to be coupled into the waveguide substrate.
The optical waveguide device of claim 6, wherein the reflective element comprises a reflective film, wherein the reflective film is disposed on the angled side of the waveguide substrate.
The optical waveguide device of claim 7, wherein the reflective element further comprises a prism, wherein the reflective film is plated on a slope of the prism, and the slope of the prism is correspondingly bonded to the sloped side of the waveguide substrate.
The optical waveguide device of claim 8, wherein a first side of the prism intersects the second surface of the waveguide substrate in parallel and a second side of the prism intersects the first surface of the waveguide substrate perpendicularly.
The optical waveguide device of claim 1, wherein the light incoupling mechanism is implemented as a refractive prism, wherein the refractive prism has an incoupling side and a slope extending obliquely with respect to the incoupling side, wherein the slope of the refractive prism is correspondingly attached to the second surface of the waveguide substrate, and the incoupling side of the refractive prism serves as the functional surface of the light incoupling mechanism.
The optical waveguide device of any of claims 1-10, wherein the grating working mechanism is implemented as a two-dimensional grating formed on the first surface or the second surface of the waveguide substrate for diffracting the light transmitted within the waveguide substrate to couple the light out of the waveguide substrate in a two-dimensional diffusion.
The optical waveguide device of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the grating working mechanism is composed of a one-dimensional turning grating and a one-dimensional coupling-out grating, wherein the one-dimensional turning grating is formed on the first surface or the second surface of the waveguide substrate, is used for changing the direction of the light traveling in the waveguide substrate by diffraction and diffusing the light along one direction, and the one-dimensional coupling-out grating is correspondingly formed on the first surface or the second surface of the waveguide substrate, is used for diffusing the light turned by the one-dimensional turning grating along the other direction and coupling out of the waveguide substrate.
The optical waveguide device of any of claims 1-10, wherein the grating working mechanism is implemented as a one-dimensional outcoupling grating, wherein the one-dimensional outcoupling grating has a one-dimensional diffusion path, and the functional surface of the light incoupling mechanism extends in a direction perpendicular to the one-dimensional diffusion path for diffusing the light coupled in via the light incoupling mechanism along the one-dimensional diffusion path and out of the waveguide substrate.
A method of manufacturing an optical waveguide device, comprising the steps of:

manufacturing a mother board, wherein the mother board is provided with a grating structure to be transferred, which corresponds to the grating working mechanism; the grating working mechanism is formed on the surface of the waveguide substrate by utilizing the motherboard in a nano imprinting mode; and

an optical coupling-in mechanism is arranged on the waveguide substrate, wherein the optical coupling-in mechanism is provided with a functional surface inclined relative to the surface of the waveguide substrate and is used for coupling light into the waveguide substrate in a refraction or reflection mode, and the grating working mechanism is used for coupling the light out of the waveguide substrate in a diffraction mode in a diffusion mode.
The method of claim 14, wherein the side of the waveguide substrate is cut to form an inclined surface as the functional surface of the light coupling mechanism.
Augmented reality device, characterized by comprising:

a setting main body;

a projection light engine; and

the projection light engine and the optical waveguide device are correspondingly arranged on the equipment main body, so that image light provided by the projection light engine is coupled into the optical waveguide device in a reflection or refraction mode and is coupled out of the optical waveguide device in a diffraction mode, and accordingly the eyes of a user can receive the corresponding image.
The augmented reality device of claim 16, wherein the optical waveguide arrangement comprises:

a waveguide substrate, wherein the waveguide substrate has a first surface and a second surface parallel to each other;

an optical incoupling mechanism, wherein the optical incoupling mechanism is arranged on the waveguide substrate, and the optical incoupling mechanism is provided with a functional surface inclined relative to the first surface of the waveguide substrate and is used for coupling light into the waveguide substrate in a reflecting or refracting way so as to transmit the light in a total reflection way between the first surface and the second surface of the waveguide substrate; and

and the grating working mechanism is formed on the waveguide substrate and used for coupling the light out of the waveguide substrate in a diffusion manner through diffraction.
The augmented reality device of claim 17, wherein the waveguide substrate further has an angled side and the angled side has a predetermined angle with the first surface, wherein the angled side of the waveguide substrate is implemented as the functional surface of the light in-coupling mechanism.
The augmented reality device of claim 18, wherein the angled side of the waveguide substrate is to face a projection light engine such that image light projected via the projection light engine is refracted at the angled side of the waveguide substrate to couple into the waveguide substrate.
The augmented reality device of claim 19, wherein the light incoupling mechanism comprises an anti-reflection film, wherein the anti-reflection film is disposed on the inclined side of the waveguide substrate.
The augmented reality device of claim 19, wherein the preset angle satisfies the following condition:

wherein n is the refractive index of the waveguide substrate; θ ₀ The preset included angle is set; θ is the angle between the image ray and the normal of the first surface.
The augmented reality device of claim 18, wherein the light incoupling mechanism is implemented as a reflective element, wherein the reflective element is correspondingly disposed at the inclined side of the waveguide substrate, and the first surface of the waveguide substrate is configured to face a projection light engine such that image light projected via the projection light engine is reflected at the inclined side of the waveguide substrate to be coupled into the waveguide substrate.
The augmented reality device of claim 22, wherein the reflective element comprises a reflective film, wherein the reflective film is disposed on the sloped side of the waveguide substrate.
The augmented reality device of claim 23, wherein the reflective element further comprises a prism, wherein the reflective film is plated to a bevel of the prism, and the bevel of the prism is correspondingly bonded to the sloped side of the waveguide substrate.
The augmented reality device of claim 24, wherein a first side of the prism intersects the second surface of the waveguide substrate in parallel and a second side of the prism intersects the first surface of the waveguide substrate perpendicularly.
The augmented reality device of claim 17, wherein the light incoupling mechanism is implemented as a refractive prism, wherein the refractive prism has an incoupling side face and a slope extending obliquely with respect to the incoupling side face, wherein the slope of the refractive prism is correspondingly attached to the second surface of the waveguide substrate, and the incoupling side face of the refractive prism serves as the functional face of the light incoupling mechanism.
The augmented reality device of any one of claims 17 to 26, wherein the grating working mechanism is implemented as a two-dimensional grating formed on the first or second surface of the waveguide substrate for diffracting the light transmitted within the waveguide substrate to couple the light out of the waveguide substrate in a two-dimensional diffusion.
The augmented reality device according to any one of claims 17 to 26, wherein the grating working mechanism is composed of a one-dimensional turning grating formed on the first surface or the second surface of the waveguide substrate for changing a direction of the light traveling within the waveguide substrate by diffraction and diffusing the light first along one direction, and a one-dimensional coupling-out grating formed on the first surface or the second surface of the waveguide substrate, respectively, for diffusing the light turned by the one-dimensional turning grating along the other direction and coupling out the waveguide substrate.
The augmented reality device of any one of claims 17 to 26, wherein the grating working mechanism is implemented as a one-dimensional out-coupling grating, wherein the one-dimensional out-coupling grating has a one-dimensional diffusion path, and the functional face of the light in-coupling mechanism extends in a direction perpendicular to the one-dimensional diffusion path for diffusing the light coupled in via the light in-coupling mechanism along the one-dimensional diffusion path and out of the waveguide substrate.
The augmented reality device of any one of claims 17 to 26, wherein the projection light engine comprises a laser beam scanning engine for modulating and projecting monochromatic image light of different colors when the image source comprises a plurality of monochromatic images of different colors, the modulation being used to compensate for chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of the monochromatic image light of different colors by the raster work mechanism.
The augmented reality apparatus of claim 30, wherein the laser beam scanning light machine is configured to project monochromatic image light having different colors at different angles, so that when the monochromatic image light having different colors is transmitted and emitted via the optical waveguide device, overlapping display of the monochromatic images of different colors is achieved.
The augmented reality device of claim 31, wherein the laser beam scanning engine is configured to angularly scan each image pixel in a monochromatic image of a different color to project a corresponding image light.
The augmented reality device of any one of claims 17 to 26, wherein the device body is glasses or a windshield of a vehicle.
A method for calibrating a laser beam scanning optical machine for an optical waveguide device, the method comprising the steps of:

(A) Respectively projecting image light corresponding to a plurality of monochromatic images with different colors through the laser beam scanning optical machine, and respectively imaging and displaying the image light after passing through the optical waveguide device; and

(B) When the display position of the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light reaches the target position, recording the corresponding scanning angle of each image pixel in the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light;

the optical waveguide device couples in light rays in a reflection or refraction mode and couples out light rays in a diffraction mode; the plurality of monochromatic images with different colors are color images when displayed in superposition; the adjustment of the scanning angle is used for compensating chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of the image light with different colors.
The method according to claim 34, wherein when any one of the plurality of monochromatic images of different colors is projected, adjusting the scanning angle of the laser beam scanning optical machine to make the display position of the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light approach the target position, and when the display position of the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light reaches the target position, recording the corresponding scanning angle of each image pixel in the monochromatic image corresponding to the image light, including:

when the image light corresponding to each single-color image is projected, each image pixel of the single-color image is traversed, for the traversed image pixel, the scanning angle of the laser beam scanning optical machine is adjusted to enable the display position of the traversed image pixel to trend to the target position, and when the display position of the traversed image pixel reaches the target position, the corresponding scanning angle of the traversed image pixel is recorded until the corresponding scanning angle of each image pixel of the single-color image is recorded, so that the calibration of the single-color image is completed.
A method of displaying an image in an augmented reality device comprising a projection light engine implemented as a laser beam scanning light engine and an optical waveguide device, the optical waveguide device being a hybrid optical waveguide device that couples in light by reflection or refraction and couples out light by diffraction, the method of displaying an image comprising the steps of:

The laser beam scanning optical machine projects image light corresponding to each monochromatic image according to scanning angles corresponding to the monochromatic images of different colors, and the image light is coupled into the optical waveguide device through reflection or refraction and is transmitted to the grating working mechanism through total reflection in the optical waveguide device, and is diffracted out of the optical waveguide device for imaging;

the projection modulation of the image light by the corresponding scanning angles of the monochromatic images with different colors is used for compensating chromatic dispersion and distortion caused by diffraction of the image light with different colors.