Comfortable and attractive VR headsets may not be available in the near future, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be available at all. According to VentureBeat, Facebook is investigating a holographic optics design that would reduce today’s virtual reality headsets from their bulky brick shape to something more like a pair of thick glasses. This dates back to rumors in early May 2020 that Facebook’s Oculus division was doing a slimmer Quest VR headsetsOnly this prototype glasses-shaped VR headset is much smaller and much lighter.
Facebook discussed his research in a Siggraph 2020 article, “Thin and Light Virtual Reality Holographic Optics,” detailing how he has been experimenting with what he calls “pancake optics.” It’s a type of design that combines several thin layers of holographic film to make a virtual reality screen just a little bit thicker than most smartphones today – 9mm to 11mm. The prototype design also uses a laser projection system (similar to classroom projectors that display images on a screen or wall) and directional backlight to display 2D or 3D images.
The VR glasses prototypes also have a resolution comparable to the Oculus Quest, 1,200 by 1,600 pixels (16 inches by 21.3 inches) and a field of view that is a 93-degree circle or a 92-by-69-degree rectangle, according to VentureBeat. VR glasses would only weigh 10 grams, while Oculus Quest weighs 571 grams, or 1.26 pounds.
Virtual reality glasses are still far from becoming more than a proof of concept, but Facebook’s proposed design seems pretty compelling. As detailed by the company in its research blog, most virtual reality displays use a refractive lens made of a thick, curved piece or glass or plastic, which is why virtual reality headsets are so bulky. There needs to be an adequate amount of space between the glass and the eyes for an image to appear correctly. But using holographic optics on a lens reduces that space because instead of moving light directly through a conventional lens, a holographic lens will bounce the light onto the display panel before folding it like a lens. If you have a debit or credit card with a rainbow logo appearing on it, that’s what Facebook is trying to do with its holographic lenses.
Currently, the research team has been able to produce a short proof-of-concept video, which is featured on the blog, but the images are only green. Facebook says that “it is currently working to achieve full color in the smallest research prototype.” There’s no point wearing a VR headset if everything you see is colored like Matrix code.
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Facebook is careful to note that its work today is “purely investigative,” but it holds great promise for what VR headsets will look like in the future. If you want to dig deeper into the research itself, you can read the full article here. If at some point the VR headset form factor morphs into a sick pair of Ray Bans, I imagine they’d be prohibitively expensive to start with, but hey, at least virtual reality as we know it now would be cheaper.
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