With rapid advances in high-speed communication and computation, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are emerging as next-generation display platforms for deeper human-digital ...interactions. Nonetheless, to simultaneously match the exceptional performance of human vision and keep the near-eye display module compact and lightweight imposes unprecedented challenges on optical engineering. Fortunately, recent progress in holographic optical elements (HOEs) and lithography-enabled devices provide innovative ways to tackle these obstacles in AR and VR that are otherwise difficult with traditional optics. In this review, we begin with introducing the basic structures of AR and VR headsets, and then describing the operation principles of various HOEs and lithography-enabled devices. Their properties are analyzed in detail, including strong selectivity on wavelength and incident angle, and multiplexing ability of volume HOEs, polarization dependency and active switching of liquid crystal HOEs, device fabrication, and properties of micro-LEDs (light-emitting diodes), and large design freedoms of metasurfaces. Afterwards, we discuss how these devices help enhance the AR and VR performance, with detailed description and analysis of some state-of-the-art architectures. Finally, we cast a perspective on potential developments and research directions of these photonic devices for future AR and VR displays.
Abstract
Presently, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are two dominant flat panel display technologies. Recently, inorganic mini-LEDs (mLEDs) and ...micro-LEDs (μLEDs) have emerged by significantly enhancing the dynamic range of LCDs or as sunlight readable emissive displays. “mLED, OLED, or μLED: who wins?” is a heated debatable question. In this review, we conduct a comprehensive analysis on the material properties, device structures, and performance of mLED/μLED/OLED emissive displays and mLED backlit LCDs. We evaluate the power consumption and ambient contrast ratio of each display in depth and systematically compare the motion picture response time, dynamic range, and adaptability to flexible/transparent displays. The pros and cons of mLED, OLED, and μLED displays are analysed, and their future perspectives are discussed.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and photonic devices play a pivotal role to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). The recently emerging high-dynamic-range (HDR) mini-LED backlit LCDs ...significantly boost the image quality and brightness and reduce the power consumption for VR displays. Such a light engine is particularly attractive for compensating the optical loss of pancake structure to achieve compact and lightweight VR headsets. On the other hand, high-resolution-density, and high-brightness liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) is a promising image source for the see-through AR displays, especially under high ambient lighting conditions. Meanwhile, the high-speed LCoS spatial light modulators open a new door for holographic displays and focal surface displays. Finally, the ultrathin planar diffractive LC optical elements, such as geometric phase LC grating and lens, have found useful applications in AR and VR for enhancing resolution, widening field-of-view, suppressing chromatic aberrations, creating multiplanes to overcome the vergence-accommodation conflict, and dynamic pupil steering to achieve gaze-matched Maxwellian displays, just to name a few. The operation principles, potential applications, and future challenges of these advanced LC devices will be discussed.
An active-matrix (AM) driving circuit using a low-temperature poly-silicon thin-film transistor (LTPS TFT) is developed to reduce the power consumption of mini-light-emitting diode (LED) backlit ...liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). By lowering the drain-source voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V}_{\text {DS}} </tex-math></inline-formula>) of the switching TFT on the driving current path, the range of required voltage across the proposed circuit can be reduced, decreasing the power consumption of the mini-LED backlight. The proposed circuit also can compensate for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V}_{\text {TH}} </tex-math></inline-formula> variation in the LTPS TFT and the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{I} </tex-math></inline-formula>-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{R} </tex-math></inline-formula> rise of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V}_{\text {SS}} </tex-math></inline-formula> to provide a uniform driving current to flow through the mini-LED. By measuring the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{I} </tex-math></inline-formula>-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V} </tex-math></inline-formula> curves of a fabricated LTPS TFT, we build a reliable simulation model and compare the proposed circuit to that of the state-of-the-art. Simulated results indicate that the proposed circuit can improve the power consumption by 16.67% and reduce the current error rates below 8% when the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V}_{\text {TH}} </tex-math></inline-formula> of TFT varies by ±0.3 V and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V}_{\text {SS}} </tex-math></inline-formula> rises +1 V. Measured results further confirm that the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V}_{\text {DS}} </tex-math></inline-formula> of the switching TFT is reduced by 2.208 V compared to a 6T2C compensating circuit. Therefore, widespread applications of the proposed circuit for AM mini-LED backlit LCDs to produce high-dynamic-range images are foreseeable.
Volumetric light-shaping polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films for mini-LED backlit liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are proposed and experimentally demonstrated. With proper material ...engineering and good vertical alignment of liquid crystals, passive PDLC films with angle-selective scattering properties can be achieved. Such films only respond to angles rather than spatial locations. By directly adhering the PDLC films onto a LED, angular intensity distribution of light can be tailored from Lambertian-like to batwing-like. Further simulation shows that by engineering the angular distribution, a fewer number of LEDs or equivalently a shorter light-spreading distance should be required to maintain good uniformity. Such a PDLC film would find widespread applications in emerging mini-LED backlit LCDs and shed light on designing other light-shaping films in the future.
We develop an optical model including the glare effect in the human vision system to analyze the halo effect of high-dynamic-range (HDR) mini-LED backlit liquid crystal displays (LCDs). In our model, ...an objective function is first introduced to evaluate the severity of the halo effect with different image contents. This function is further combined with PSNR to establish a new evaluation metric to analyze the image quality affected by the halo effect. A subjective visual experiment is also conducted to verify the above-mentioned evaluation metrics. In addition, we analyze the influence of ambient environment (viewing angle and ambient light illuminance) on the halo effect. After considering the requirements on local dimming zones, dynamic contrast ratio, gamma shift, and color shift for practical applications, we find that fringe-field-switching mode is a strong contender for the mini-LED backlit LCD system.
ABSTRACT In the present study, we examined the growth parameters of Bacillus licheniformis in solid-state fermentation (SSF) and evaluated the effects of Bacillus licheniformis-fermented products on ...Clostridium perfringens-challenged broilers. During four and six days of SSF, the highest viable biomass was observed at 5% glucose, 10% soybean meal, 3% yeast, and 50% initial moisture content. The Bacillus licheniformis SSF products were heat- and acid-resistant. Furthermore, the fermented products were able to inhibit the growth of Clostridium perfringens and Staphylococcus aureus in vitro. In feeding experiments, in a similar manner to the antibiotic treatment group, dietary supplementation of Bacillus licheniformis-fermented products significantly improved intestinal morphology and necrotic lesions under Clostridium perfringens challenge, accompanied by increased IFN-γ mRNA expression in the spleen and bursa of Fabricius. These results together suggest that Bacillus licheniformis-fermented products have potential for development as feed additives and use as possible substitutes for antibiotics to treat Clostridium perfringens in the poultry industry.
To achieve wide-gamut and high-efficiency tandem white OLED (WOLED) microdisplays, we propose a new structure leveraging high-order antinodes and patterned microcavities. The color gamut coverages of ...95% Rec. 2020 and 92% Rec. 2020 can be achieved in B/G/R tandem WOLED with a moderate microcavity and B/YG tandem WOLED with a strong microcavity, respectively. We have also boosted the optical efficiency by 62% for the tandem B/YG WOLED using the high-order antinodes at optimal conditions. Such a WOLED microdisplay helps reduce the power consumption of virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) displays while keeping a wide color gamut.
Prednisolone is involved in glucose homeostasis and has been used for treatment for aristolochic acid (AA) nephropathy (AAN), but its effect on glycolysis in kidney has not yet been clarified. This ...study aims to investigate the effect in terms of altered proteins after prednisolone treatment in a mice model of AAN using a proteomics technique. The six-week C3H/He female mice were administrated AA (0.5 mg/kg/day) for 56 days. AA+P group mice were then given prednisolone (2 mg/kg/day) via oral gavage for the next 14 days, and AA group mice were fed water instead. The tubulointerstitial damage was improved after prednisolone treatment comparing to that of AA group. Kidney homogenates were harvested to perform the proteomics analysis with fluorogenic derivatization-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method (FD-LC-MS/MS). On the other hand, urinary methylglyoxal and D-lactate levels were determined by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. There were 47 altered peaks and 39 corresponding proteins on day 14 among the groups, and the glycolysis-related proteins, especially glyoxalase 1 (GLO1), fructose-bisphosphate aldolase B (aldolase B), and triosephosphate isomerase (TPI), decreased in the AA+P group. Meanwhile, prednisolone decreased the urinary amount of methylglyoxal (AA+P: 2.004 ± 0.301 μg vs. AA: 2.741 ± 0.630 μg, p < 0.05), which was accompanied with decrease in urinary amount of D-lactate (AA+P: 54.07 ± 5.45 μmol vs. AA: 86.09 ± 8.44 μmol, p < 0.05). Prednisolone thus alleviated inflammation and interstitial renal fibrosis. The renal protective mechanism might be associated with down-regulation of GLO1 via reducing the contents of methylglyoxal derived from glycolysis. With the aid of proteomics analysis and the determination of methylglyoxal and its metabolite-D-lactate, we have demonstrated for the first time the biochemical efficacy of prednisolone, and urinary methylglyoxal and its metabolite-D-lactate might be potential biomarkers for AAN.
Compared to conventional bulky spectropolarimeters, computational spectropolarimeters which reconstruct light-field information such as polarization and spectrum in a compact form factor, are ...critical equipment enabling new applications. The key component of a computational spectropolarimeter is a tunable light-field modulator, in which liquid crystal-based device is a promising candidate. By varying the applied voltage, the tunable liquid crystal metasurface can modulate the phase and spectral information of the incident light, and after a few trials, this important information can be decoded mathematically. Such a novel approach paves the foundation for developing compact and low-cost spectropolarimetric imaging devices with widespread applications in biomedical imaging, remote sensing, and optical communications.
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