Augmented reality (AR) display technology greatly enhances users' perception of and interaction with the real world by superimposing a computer‐generated virtual scene on the real physical world. The main problem of the state‐of‐the‐art 3D AR head‐mounted displays (HMDs) is the accommodation‐vergence conflict because the 2D images displayed by flat panel devices are at a fixed distance from the eyes. In this paper, we present a design for an optical see‐through HMD utilizing multi‐plane display technology for AR applications. This approach manages to provide correct depth information and solves the accommodation‐vergence conflict problem. In our system, a projector projects slices of a 3D scene onto a stack of polymer‐stabilized liquid crystal scattering shutters in time sequence to reconstruct the 3D scene. The polymer‐stabilized liquid crystal shutters have sub‐millisecond switching time that enables sufficient number of shutters to achieve high depth resolution. A proof‐of‐concept two‐plane optical see‐through HMD prototype is demonstrated. Our design can be made lightweight, compact, with high resolution, and large depth range from near the eye to infinity and thus holds great potential for fatigue‐free AR HMDs.

Polymer‐stabilized blue phase liquid crystal (PS‐BPLC) is emerging as a promising candidate for next‐generation photonic applications due to its attractive features: nano‐scale structure that enables sub‐millisecond response time, self‐assembly that eliminates the need for surface alignment, and three‐dimensional cubic structure so that it is quasi‐isotropic without applied field. Here, we will look into the photonic properties of PS‐BPLC microscopically and macroscopically, and will focus on the non‐display photonic applications based on these properties. First we will give a general introduction to the polymer stabilization process, general photonic properties, electric field effects and desirable electro‐optical properties of PS‐BPLC. Next we will present applications based on the microscopic photonic properties in the cubic structures with double twist cylinders: photonic band gap, scattering and unwinding of the double twist structure under electric field. Then, we will cover applications based on the macroscopic refractive index change of PS‐BPLC under electric fields, whose mechanisms are further classified into phase retardation, phase modulation, and resonance condition change. Finally we will look into the remaining challenges and future perspectives of PS‐BPLC for photonic applications.

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In this paper we propose an optical see-through head mounted display (HMD) for augmented reality display by utilizing reverse mode polymer-stabilized liquid crystal (PSLC). The system has lower power consumption compared with our previous work which employs the normal mode PSLC. The HMD provides the depth information accurately and solves the accommodationvergence conflict problem caused in the conventional HMDs. Author KeywordsMulti-plane; head mounted display; 3D display; augmented reality; reverse mode polymer-stabilized liquid crystal.