We demonstrate a reflective chirped polarization volume grating as a strong contender for wide field-of-view augmented reality display systems. By introducing gradient pitch along the beam propagation direction, the angular bandwidth extends dramatically from 18 to 54 while keeping over 80% average efficiency and 95% peak efficiency.

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A dual-stimuli polarizer-free dye-doped liquid crystal (LC) dimmer is demonstrated. The LC composition consists of photo-stable chiral agent, photosensitive azobenzene, and dichroic dye in a nematic host with positive dielectric anisotropy. Upon UV exposure, the LC directors and dye molecules turn from initially vertical alignment (high transmittance state) to twisted fingerprint structure (low transmittance state). The reversal process is accelerated by combining a longitudinal electric field to unwind the LC directors from twisted fingerprint to homeotropic state, and a red light to transform the cis azobenzene back to trans. This device can be used as a smart dimmer to enhance the ambient contrast ratio for augmented reality displays.

A compact polarization rotator (PR) with an asymmetric single dielectric loaded rib waveguide is proposed. The core of the waveguide is designed to have a specific rectangular configuration. The waveguide requires only a single asymmetrical dielectric loading on the core to complete the polarization conversion. The optical field is confined to the vicinity of the core center, which matches the optical field of the input/output waveguides. The transition loss of the PR is as low as 0.03-0.21 dB/facet without the taper or offset schemes. Such results can facilitate the fabrication of a PR with an operating length of 10 μm. In a comprehensively designed PR with a length of 7.92 μm, a -1  dB bandwidth for polarization conversion efficiency (PCE) is greater than 100 nm at the communicating wavelength of 1550 nm. The loading width and thickness with ±20  nm tolerance exhibit -0.87 and -0.49  dB changes in PCE, respectively.

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