{"title":"Multi-depth switching by triple wavefront modulation of quarter-waveplate geometric phase lenses for vergence-accommodation-matching extended reality.","authors":"Jung-Yeop Shin,Jae-Won Lee,Hafiz Saad Khaliq,Erkhembaatar Dashdavaa,Munkh-Uchral Erdenebat,Min-Seok Kim,Jin-Hyeok Seo,Young-Min Cho,Hak-Rin Kim","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02026-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We present a novel approach to resolving the vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC) in extended reality (XR) optics by introducing a quarter-waveplate (QWP) geometric phase lens (GPL) capable of triple wavefront modulation-focusing, defocusing, and non-modulating at infinity. This polarization-driven behavior is interpreted using contour trajectories on the Poincaré sphere and compared against conventional half-waveplate (HWP) GPLs. Leveraging this property, we propose a bi-stacked QWP GPL module that enables nine distinct varifocal states through polarization-controlled input selection and output filtering. In contrast, HWP-based modules under equivalent stacking conditions are limited to four focal states. The QWP GPL module supports a compact varifocal system spanning a continuous depth range from 24.27 cm to infinity, with a 0.3-diopter interval aligned with the human visual comfort zone. Importantly, the number of representable focal depths scales as 3n for n stacked layers, offering a (1.5)n-fold improvement over the 2n scaling of HWP systems. This enables finer depth transitions using fewer lens units while retaining both compactness and optical modularity, establishing a depth-switchable imaging platform that enhances visual comfort and depth fidelity in next-generation XR display systems.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"56 1","pages":"333"},"PeriodicalIF":23.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Light-Science & Applications","FirstCategoryId":"1089","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02026-2","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"OPTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We present a novel approach to resolving the vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC) in extended reality (XR) optics by introducing a quarter-waveplate (QWP) geometric phase lens (GPL) capable of triple wavefront modulation-focusing, defocusing, and non-modulating at infinity. This polarization-driven behavior is interpreted using contour trajectories on the Poincaré sphere and compared against conventional half-waveplate (HWP) GPLs. Leveraging this property, we propose a bi-stacked QWP GPL module that enables nine distinct varifocal states through polarization-controlled input selection and output filtering. In contrast, HWP-based modules under equivalent stacking conditions are limited to four focal states. The QWP GPL module supports a compact varifocal system spanning a continuous depth range from 24.27 cm to infinity, with a 0.3-diopter interval aligned with the human visual comfort zone. Importantly, the number of representable focal depths scales as 3n for n stacked layers, offering a (1.5)n-fold improvement over the 2n scaling of HWP systems. This enables finer depth transitions using fewer lens units while retaining both compactness and optical modularity, establishing a depth-switchable imaging platform that enhances visual comfort and depth fidelity in next-generation XR display systems.