US 12,032,166 B2
Waveguide illuminator
Kevin Richard Curtis, Boulder, CO (US); Bradley Jay Sissom, Boulder, CO (US); Hui-Chuan Cheng, Cooper City, FL (US); Miller Harry Schuck, III, Erie, CO (US); Samarth Bhargava, Saratoga, CA (US); and Erik Heath Arend, Boulder, CO (US)
Assigned to Magic Leap, Inc., Plantation, FL (US)
Filed by Magic Leap, Inc., Plantation, FL (US)
Filed on Jan. 7, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/571,366.
Application 17/571,366 is a continuation of application No. 16/215,477, filed on Dec. 10, 2018, granted, now 11,256,093.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/597,359, filed on Dec. 11, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/624,109, filed on Jan. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0206301 A1, Jun. 30, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 27/01 (2006.01); F21V 8/00 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 27/0172 (2013.01) [G02B 6/0076 (2013.01); G02B 27/01 (2013.01); G02B 27/0176 (2013.01); G02B 6/0033 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0112 (2013.01); G02B 2027/015 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0178 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A display system configured to project light to an eye of a user, the display system comprising:
at least one light source;
a spatial light modulator having one or more pixels and configured to form an image; and
at least one waveguide having a first major surface and a second major surface disposed in an X-Z plane and opposite the first major surface, and first and second edges between the first and second major surfaces, the spatial light modulator being closer to the first major surface of the at least one waveguide and the at least one light source closer to the second major surface of the at least one waveguide, wherein a diffractive optical element is disposed on the second major surface,
wherein the display system is configured such that light from the light source is received into the at least one waveguide through the second major surface at a first location in the X-Z plane and is transmitted through the first major surface towards the spatial light modulator such that the light from the light source does not pass through the diffractive optical element, and at least a portion of the light illuminating the spatial light modulator is redirected back and diffractively coupled into the at least one waveguide by the diffractive optical element at a second location that is offset in the X-Z plane from the first location to be guided therein, and
wherein the at least one waveguide is configured to be positioned on a head of the user in front of the user's eye such that at least a portion of the light from the spatial light modulator diffractively coupled into the at least one waveguide and guided therein is output from the at least one waveguide to the eye of the user to display image content to the user.