An optical system for augmented reality with electrically tunable optical zoom function and image registration exploiting liquid crystal lenses

An optical-see-through augmented reality (AR) system assists our daily work by augmenting our sense with computer-generated information. Two of optical challenges of AR are image registration and vision correction due to fixed optical properties of the optical elements of AR systems. In this paper, we demonstrated an AR system with optical zoom function as well as a function of image registration via two LC lenses in order to help people see better by magnifying the virtual image and adjusting the location of virtual image. The operating principles are introduced, and experiments are performed. The concept demonstrated in this paper could be further extended to other electro-optical devices as long as the devices exhibit the capability of phase modulations.