e-Vision Smart Optics, Inc.

Methods and devices for an oxygen permeable liquid crystal contact lens are disclosed herein. An oxygen permeable liquid crystal contact lens may include a coating. The coating may be made of one or more layers of an oxygen non-permeable material. The coating may be modified to allow oxygen to permeate though the liquid crystal contact lens to a mammalian eye.

A method of manufacturing an optic includes disposing electronic circuitry on a substrate. The method also includes depositing a first resin on the first side of the electronic circuitry and curing the first resin to form a first optical segment. The method further includes depositing a second resin on the second side of the electronic circuitry and curing the second resin to form a second optical segment. The first and second optical segments encapsulate the electronic circuitry. The first resin and the second resin can include multiple droplets of resin, thereby reducing mechanical force imposed on the electronic circuitry during printing and allowing conformal contact between the resin and the electronic circuitry. Accordingly, electronic circuitry of smaller dimension can be used to form the electronic eyewear.

A typical liquid crystal lens includes liquid crystal sandwiched between transparent substrates, which are patterned with ring electrodes. Applying a voltage across the electrodes causes the liquid crystal molecules to rotate, changing their apparent refractive index and the lens's focal length. The ring electrodes are separated by gaps and get narrower toward the lens's periphery. If the ring electrodes are too narrower, their cannot switch the liquid crystal well. To address this problem, an inventive liquid crystal lens includes a substrate with a stepped surface that defines concentric liquid crystal regions with thicknesses that increase with lens radius. Each region is switched by a different set of ring electrodes, which may be on, under, or opposite the stepped surface. Within each region, the ring electrodes get narrower farther from the lens's center. But the ring electrodes' widths also increase with liquid crystal thickness, offsetting the decrease in width that degrades lens performance.

A method of manufacturing an optic includes disposing electronic circuitry on a substrate. The method also includes depositing a first resin on the first side of the electronic circuitry and curing the first resin to form a first optical segment. The method further includes depositing a second resin on the second side of the electronic circuitry and curing the second resin to form a second optical segment. The first and second optical segments encapsulate the electronic circuitry. The first resin and the second resin can include multiple droplets of resin, thereby reducing mechanical force imposed on the electronic circuitry during printing and allowing conformal contact between the resin and the electronic circuitry. Accordingly, electronic circuitry of smaller dimension can be used to form the electronic eyewear.

Transparent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) can be used as light-emitting pixels in a near-eye display for augmented reality applications. The light from these pixels can be switchably tuned and/or steered with tunable beam-steering and focusing elements, also called tunable micro-lenses. These tunable micro-lenses are arranged in an array and mated to the array of pixels, for example, by embedding in a spectacle lens. The tunable micro-lenses use fast-switching half-wave plates to selectively focus and/or tilt light from the pixels. By switching the light from the pixels between resolvable positions/angles at a rate faster than the flicker fusion threshold (e.g., 60 Hz), the tunable micro-lenses can effectively double the apparent resolution of the near-eye display. And by switching between focusing and non-focusing states at the same rate, the tunable micro-lenses can effectively superimpose the virtual images from the pixels on the real-world image visible through the pixels.

A see-through near eye display, which can be modulated in such a manner to synchronize with electronic enabled micro-lenses of a switchable micro-lens array, wherein when pixels of the near eye display are lit the micro-lenses of the micro-lens array are present; thus, a virtual image can be formed and seen by the eye of a user. When the see-through near eye display is not lit, the micro-lenses are not present, thus permitting a real image to be present.

A beam steering device includes a substrate with a first refractive index that defines a cavity, an electroactive material in the cavity that has a variable refractive index, and two sets of opposing overlays. The overlays in one set of opposing overlays are parallel to each other, while the overlays in the other set are tilted with respect to each other. This allows one or more electric fields between the overlays to be used to align the electroactive material in two different directions to change its refractive index, allowing for a faster speed of beam steering through refraction than conventional approaches.

A typical liquid crystal lens includes liquid crystal sandwiched between transparent substrates, which are patterned with ring electrodes. Applying a voltage across the electrodes causes the liquid crystal molecules to rotate, changing their apparent refractive index and the lens's focal length. The ring electrodes are separated by gaps and get narrower toward the lens's periphery. If the ring electrodes are too narrower, their cannot switch the liquid crystal well. To address this problem, an inventive liquid crystal lens includes a substrate with a stepped surface that defines concentric liquid crystal regions with thicknesses that increase with lens radius. Each region is switched by a different set of ring electrodes, which may be on, under, or opposite the stepped surface. Within each region, the ring electrodes get narrower farther from the lens's center. But the ring electrodes' widths also increase with liquid crystal thickness, offsetting the decrease in width that degrades lens performance.

A conventional liquid crystal lens switches on and off so slowly that a person can perceive the lens's gradual transition from high to low optical power. This makes a conventional liquid crystal lens unsuitable for focusing virtual images quickly in an augmented, mixed, or virtual reality system. Conversely, an inventive fast-switching electroactive lens system can switch so fast (e.g., in 35 milliseconds or less) that a person perceives its optical power to change instantaneously. The system accomplishes this fast switching with using an electroactive wave plate in series with slower liquid-crystal lenses. The wave place can be switched quickly between emitting vertically or horizontally polarized light. Each lens focuses either vertically or horizontally polarized light and transmits orthogonally polarized light. By switching between polarization states, the wave plate effectively turns one lens on and the other lens off much faster than either lens could be switched by itself.

Transparent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) can be used as light-emitting pixels in a near-eye display for augmented reality applications. The light from these pixels can be switchably tuned and/or steered with tunable beam-steering and focusing elements, also called tunable micro-lenses. These tunable micro-lenses are arranged in an array and mated to the array of pixels, for example, by embedding in a spectacle lens. The tunable micro-lenses use fast-switching half-wave plates to selectively focus and/or tilt light from the pixels. By switching the light from the pixels between resolvable positions/angles at a rate faster than the flicker fusion threshold (e.g., 60 Hz), the tunable micro-lenses can effectively double the apparent resolution of the near-eye display. And by switching between focusing and non-focusing states at the same rate, the tunable micro-lenses can effectively superimpose the virtual images from the pixels on the real-world image visible through the pixels.