Lumus and Luxexcel demonstrate reflective waveguide in a prescription lens demonstrator

Luxexcel, the technology leader for 3D printed prescription lenses and Lumus, the pioneering innovator of reflective waveguide displays for Augmented Reality (AR), have co-developed a demonstrator of an Augmented Reality prescription lens solution that enables OEMs to address users’ prescription requirements in their smart eyewear products and make the lens solution thin, durable, and to be worn like fashion eyewear lenses.

The demonstrator features Lumus reflective waveguide which is widely acknowledged as having the AR industry’s leading luminance efficiency which is ideally suited for outdoor usage, embedded by Luxexcel into a 3D printed prescription lens. The complete solution features a high-quality, clear image produced by the waveguide and viewed through the prescription lens.

“Lumus is thrilled to partner with Luxexcel, a real innovator in the optics space, on this proof of concept joining two distinct and complementary innovations that make AR glasses truly practical and ready for the consumer market,” said Dr. Eli Glikman, Chief Product Officer of Lumus. “Luxexcel’s focus on quality and scalability for their 3D printed prescription lenses make their solution a very promising path for integrating RX for our current 2D expansion reflective waveguides.”

This joint demonstrator features a prescription lens with embedded the Lumus Maximus. Specifications of the Lumus waveguide are 50° field-of-view, 2Kx2K resolution and an eyebox of 12x12mm, and a brightness of more than 4,000nit/WLED. High-quality images are maintained because the waveguide remains completely flat during the 3D printing of the prescription lens, and print features such as air gaps can be added.

Guido Groet, Chief Strategy Officer at Luxexcel said: “Lumus is one of the waveguide technology leaders in the industry and their reflective waveguide technology is known for its great image quality and brightness. Given 75% of the world population today requires vision correction, providing prescription lenses for augmented reality glasses is crucial. We’re proud of the contribution our partnership with Lumus is making to the smart eyewear industry where they provide the imaging technology, we add the prescription and make the full device thin, lightweight, and above all, fashionable”.

The key technologies provided by the partnership can be scaled and volume-produced to 3D print smart eyewear with users’ individualized prescription powers. This module will be shown for the first time at SPIE AR VR MR where both companies will feature in a virtual Fireside chat to discuss their respective technologies. Prototype samples of the module will be available for customers in Q4 2022.