Complex Holographic Advanced Optical Spatial light modulator (CHAOS)

Head up displays (HUDs) in cars are becoming increasingly common & have been shown to
significantly reduce accident rates by keeping the drivers eyes on the roads. Conventional
automotive HUD projection systems are limited in brightness, contrast, resolution/definition,
power usage, size & colour variation. The next generation requirements for Augmented
Reality & high performance HUDs initially for the luxury car market are very demanding &
holographic HUDs provide a variety of advantages in each of these areas. Two Trees
Photonics have demonstrated very high quality HUDs using its highly innovative & patented
phase only holography, which are in the process of being exploited commercially. However,
phase only holographic HUD requires extensive computational resource & resolution is at the
limit of current FPGA & memory technology. Additionally, the frame-rate afforded by the
existing phase only spatial light modulators is limited by the elastic properties of liquid
crystals. To provide a step change in HUD capability the project seeks to develop a
holographic HUD that utilises fully complex light modulation (i.e. both amplitude & phase)
driven using real-time hologram computation in order to realise the higher performance
characteristics needed to enable key innovations in automotive HUD. The reduced
computational complexity of this approach will allow the resolution & frame-rate of the
display to be enhanced far beyond the current baseline technology. Two Trees Photonics has
significant world leading technical capability with holographic display & optical systems. The
project will determine the most feasible modulator implementation by simulation & realise the
spatial light modulator. Holographic algorithms will be developed to match the fully complex
light modulation & a demonstrator unit will be fabricated. The project is initially focused on
automotive but provides opportunities in aerospace, medical, rail, marine, near eye devices &
augmented reality.