Lumus Displays

March 23rd, 2007 Medgadget Editors Radiology, Surgery

The technology of Lumus Ltd., a Rehovot , Israel company, has just received the Red Herring 100 Europe Award, a recognition given to the 100 “most promising” companies driving the future of technology. Though not a medical device, the company’s augmented reality display could be incorporated into a variety of surgical and interventional radiology devices, such as intraoperative mapping and preoperative surgical planning systems. In addition, one can also see how this system can be used for training residents and medical students.
Here’s how the company explains the workings of its wearable display:

The Lumus PD-10 Professional Series Displays offer full see-through, full color and high brightness. The frameless, top-down design, enables unobstructed peripheral vision, and is particularly suitable for mounting on professional head-gear. The superior performance of the Lumus PD-10 makes it the optical wearable display solution for mixed and augmented reality (MR & AR) applications.
Lumus’ patented, revolutionary Light-guide Optical Element (LOE) comprises a flat, transparent optical substrate that incorporates a set of embedded partially reflecting facets. The upper figure illustrates the LOE function. An optical image, generated by a microdisplay (e.g. LCD, LCoS or OLED), is coupled into the LOE substrate. Trapped by total internal reflection, the image components are guided along the LOE. The image is then expanded and coupled out by a set of partial reflectors for viewing by the user. The LOE provides the viewing experience of a large distant screen: an enlarged, distant image, with a large field-of-view (FoV).
The LOE is thin and, as it expands, the optical exit pupil can work with a small image source. Consequently, the LOE offers unprecedented compactness, breaking the conventional tradeoff between the optical performance and the physical size of a near-to-eye display. Unlike conventional optics, the FoV, eye motion box (the volume in which the eye should be located to view the entire image) and overall size of the optical system are all independent of the LOE thickness. For example, the thickness of conventional imaging optics increases dramatically with FoV (graph on right). In contrast, a 2-3mm thick LOE supports even very large FoVs. In addition the LOE is free of chromatic aberrations and optical distortions, delivering a high-resolution quality image.