Miniaturisation of Diode-Pumped Solid-State Lasers for Nonlinear-Optical Augmented Reality

Near-to-eye displays such as those used in virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) and augmented reality (AR) are poised to become the next mass-consumer display device [1]. Currently, commercially available AR headsets have limited battery-life, brightness and transparency (due to absorption and natural-light scatter) that is hampering wider adoption, particularly when using outdoors. Nonlinear-optical augmented reality is a new and novel approach at near-to-eye displays using wave mixing of near-infrared light in a nonlinear optical material to generate a visible image/video that appears to float in-front of the viewer [2]. This approach offers a route to a high-transparency, high-brightness display with no diffractive distortion and superior performance to existing technologies, particularly when viewed outdoors.