Reliable Holographic Plastic for Augmented Reality Display
Hongxi Guo, Ya Xie, Dengfu Lu, Yonggui Liao, Xingping Zhou, Zhong’an Li, Haiyan Peng, Xiaolin Xie
Abstract
Abstract Augmented reality (AR) displays have provided users with immersive and see‐through experiences by overlaying virtual information onto the real physical environment. To realize the combination of virtual and real information, holographic plastics hold great promise as a waveguide combiner due to their high diffraction efficiency, high transmittance, and ease of processing. However, their adoption in practical AR displays is significantly limited by reliability. Herein, a subtle design of longline‐like polymers with multiple “hooking” sites is reported that can undergo crosslinking after holographic manufacturing. The resulting holographic plastic with the reflection grating structures not only exhibits a high diffraction efficiency (> 80%), high transmittance ( T 400 > 80%) and low haze (<3%), but also shows significantly improved stability under various environmental conditions (e.g., 60 °C in oven, 80 °C water, and 60 °C & 90% relative humidity in chamber), finally enabling high‐fidelity AR display in three‐primary colors. The design of longline‐like polymers is proven critical, as the control group without “hooking” sites shows inferior stability despite holding very similar physical parameters before holographic manufacturing. This work not only establishes a viable paradigm for developing reliable waveguide combiners for AR displays but also explores a new optical application of plastic with chemical design.