Multi-channel optics for virtual and mixed reality: present and future

Reducing the size of Virtual Reality head-mounted displays is of main interest to improve the comfort of users, which is a particularly complex design problem due to the very large field of view needed to feel the immersion. High compactness with high transmission efficiency and high contrast can be achieved by multichannel optics, whose design for high performance is carried out at LIMBAK introducing intensively freeform optical surfaces, increased resolution via variable magnification, dynamic mapping control and super-sampling via pixel interlacing. This presentation will cover the growing variety of geometries, how to address their challenges and envision their future.