Hybrid Reflective‐Diffractive Waveguide Display with High Optical Efficiency

Abstract Waveguide combiners are widely recognized as a leading solution in the augmented reality (AR) community because of their compact form factor, wide field of view (FOV), and large eyebox. However, existing solutions face critical limitations. Surface‐relief grating‐based waveguides struggle to achieve single‐layer full‐color imaging with two‐dimensional (2D) exit pupil expansion (EPE), suffering from poor uniformity and low efficiency. Alternatively, geometric waveguides employing cascaded partially reflective mirrors introduce stray light, compromising image quality. To overcome these challenges, a hybrid reflective‐diffractive waveguide (HRDW) architecture is proposed that synergistically combines a pair of specially designed gratings with a set of embedded, partially reflective mirrors. The configuration enables efficient two‐dimensional EPE while maintaining high optical efficiency. A comprehensive design methodology is developed, integrating a three‐dimensional (3D) space sphere analytical model with a home‐built multidimensional ray‐field tracing tool, for HRDW. A prototype HRDW is fabricated using holographic interference lithography and molecular bonding techniques. Experimental validation demonstrates a FOV of 30°, an eyebox of 12 × 10 mm, and an average optical efficiency of 2556.9 nits/lm—an order of magnitude higher than that of conventional diffractive waveguides. This work presents an advanced hybrid waveguide architecture a robust optical design framework for next‐generation AR displays.