Compound Photonics launches ‘smallest’ 2Kx2K microdisplay for AR/MR

18 Dec 2019

Company says there is a market need for larger, symmetrical field of view for more naturalistic viewing.

Compound Photonics US, a developer of compact, high-specification microdisplay solutions, has launched its CP2K234 series of Liquid Crystal on Silicon microdisplays targeting next generation augmented and mixed reality smart glasses and head-mounted / head-up display applications.

With its claimed “industry leading” 3.015μm pixel, native 2048x2048 pixel resolution and 1:1 aspect ratio, this 8.6mm (0.34in) diagonal display enables retina resolution (equivalent to 60 pixels/degree) when combined with next generation 50°+ wide field-of-view waveguides. The CP2K234 is available as either a polarization (amplitude) or phase (holographic) modulator.

“Based on a survey of our customers’ needs, we identified the requirement to fill a larger, symmetrical field of view with enough pixels to enable a more naturalistic viewing experience,” commented Ed Passon, SVP Marketing & Customer Engineering at Compound Photonics.

“The all-in-one Integrated Display Module package (measuring 11 x 11.5 x 3 mm) includes the complete display subsystem with MIPI input. The 2K2 IDM enables customers to build extremely compact systems to meet the form factors required for AR devices,” he added. “In addition, the inclusion of 64 steering pixels horizontally and vertically provides flexibility in design and compensation of human vision factors.”

Frame-by-frame control

Compound Photonics’ NOVA display driver architecture has customizable, frame-by-frame control of frame rate (up to 240 Hz), color sub frame rate and other parameters to optimize for low latency, short persistence and power according to type of image content and use case. The company added, “This flexibility to dynamically adjust the display mode allows system designers to achieve the best performance-to-power consumption trade-off for demanding AR/MR applications.”

For phase/holographic mode applications, the 3.015μm pixel and more than 4 million available pixels on the CP2K234 screen offer the ability to generate higher quality holographic content.

Yiwan Wong, CEO of Compound Photonics, further commented, “CP continues to lead the industry in rapid innovation for microdisplays. With our 1080p microdisplay product introduction in Spring of 2019 and our recent announcement with Plessey Semiconductors on microLED collaboration, we are leading the industry in addressing the requirements for AR/MR smart glasses and HMD/HUDs.

“The company’s 1080p and 2K2 LCoS reflective displays are available today; emerging microLED emissive display technology is being jointly developed with Plessey; and ultimately we aim to achieve true holographic 3D display via CP’s LCoS phase display solutions in the future. For the first time, we can provide customers in the AR/MR space with an extensible software configurable platform based on our efficient drive architecture that can operate with a wide range of display types to support various application requirements.”

The CP2K234 amplitude samples and development kits in IDM packaging are now available and slated for full production in Q4 2020. Samples for phase modulation will also be available in Q4 2020. The current CP1080p26 series continues to be available in production.

• SPIE will be hosting the third annual AR, VR, MR Conference coincident with Photonics West 2020 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, between February 2nd-4th, 2020. The event will feature must-see presentations and demonstrations from the biggest names in consumer electronics and up-and-coming XR companies.