Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Based Reconfigurable Optical Combiner for Head-Mounted Display Application

With recent advancements in Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs), the upcoming generation of HMDs necessitates a seamless transition between Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). This paper introduces an innovative Cholesteric Liquid Crystal (CLC)-based optical combiner for HMDs, enabling dynamic switching between AR, VR, and transparent modes through temperature variation. A thermistor and external controller enable real-time temperature monitoring, which facilitates smooth transitions. We demonstrated the reconfigurability of the tunable optical combiners using 532 nm laser source. Our findings show that CLC-based optical combiners can be switched between the three modes at corresponding temperatures.