Avegant introduces Spotlight Display Tech for Augmented Reality

Avegant, a leading technology company in the field of Augmented Reality (AR), has just launched its latest innovation: Spotlight display technology. This technology is set to revolutionize the world of display engines by introducing the concept of adaptive LED illumination architecture for Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) microdisplays.

By dynamically illuminating specific regions of the LCoS microdisplay, Avegant’s Spotlight display technology achieves remarkable power savings of up to 90% while simultaneously enhancing contrast by over 10 times. This means that users can enjoy more efficient and visually stunning AR experiences without compromising on image quality.

What sets Spotlight display technology apart is its integration with Avegant’s existing products, which already boast small, mature light engines capable of delivering high-resolution, full-color, and polarized output. With this integration, Avegant ensures that users can continue to enjoy the advantages of their current displays while reaping the benefits of the new Spotlight technology.

To bring this innovation to life, Avegant has partnered with industry leaders Applied Materials, Inc. and Lumileds. Together, they are working on advanced technologies specifically tailored for the field of AR. This collaboration aims to deliver a new level of system performance and enhance the overall AR ecosystem.

Ed Tang, CEO and Founder of Avegant, expressed his excitement about the new technology, stating, “Building on the success of the AG-30L2, we are delighted to announce our new Spotlight display technology. This will usher in a new level of performance for LCoS light engines, enabling efficiency advantages of APL and higher contrast while maintaining the manufacturability, small size, and full-color high-resolution displays that we have come to know from LCoS.”

Customers who have been eagerly awaiting the maturation of microLED displays can now take advantage of Avegant’s Spotlight display technology. This solution provides a low-cost, manufacturable option based on LCoS, allowing users to enjoy the power-saving benefits of APL, including persistent content, while still enjoying efficient full-screen content.

Avegant will be showcasing demos of the Spotlight display technology at SPIE Photonics West 2024, and interested parties can request a demonstration to witness the technology’s capabilities firsthand.

The collaboration with Lumileds has yielded impressive results, as Brendan Moran, Sr. Director of Display Technology Development at Lumileds, highlighted: “We are pleased, but not surprised, that our innovative LED architecture supports Spotlight display technology’s never-before-possible Augmented Reality power savings.”

Ludovic Godet, Managing Director and Head of R&D and Engineering for Applied Materials’ Photonics Platforms Business in the Office of the CTO, also expressed his enthusiasm for the project: “Spotlight marks a leap forward in display technology for lightweight AI smart glasses. When developing a display system, the best results come from full system-level co-optimization. We are excited to work closely with Avegant to combine these advances with our industry-leading and scalable waveguide solutions to deliver improved consumer AR experiences.”

Avegant is a well-funded, venture-backed technology company that has been at the forefront of developing next-generation display technology to enable previously unimaginable augmented reality experiences. Leveraging their deep scientific understanding of human sight and head-mounted display technologies, along with their expertise in consumer electronics manufacturing, Avegant has introduced a range of innovative technologies over the years. These include the Glyph, the first consumer wearable high-quality head-mounted display, as well as lightfield and foveated displays. Most recently, Avegant achieved a significant milestone by producing the smallest LCoS light engine in production, the AG-30L2.

For more information about Avegant and its technologies, visit avegant.com.