Talk Abstract: Ever since the “Sword of Damocles” augmented reality (AR) prototype was invented by Ivan Sutherland in 1968, enabling an all-day-wearable true immersive augmented reality display has been a grand challenge for the field of optics and display research. While there has been some technological progress towards enterprise AR, consumer AR with more demanding social requirements (aka formfactor, see-thru artifacts, etc) has remained an unsolved challenge. Recent advancements in contextual AI have increased the immediate value and potential of consumer AR, and the emergence of Optical Grade Silicon Carbide (OG-SiC) waveguides has enabled the development of high-quality, see-through displays. In this talk, we will explore the evolving landscape of display material and process technologies for the waveguides that are driving the development of augmented reality (AR) systems leading to immersive AR.

Speaker Biography: Nihar Mohanty is currently a Senior R&D Manager in the Meta Reality Labs Research working on display systems and architectures towards immersive augmented reality (AR). Nihar joined Meta in 2017 as part of the core team that established the AR display waveguide program. Prior to joining Meta, he worked as a Principal Process Engineer in Tokyo Electron Limited at the Albany Nanotech Complex (Albany, NY) focusing on patterning integration for advanced node semiconductor logic and memory development. Nihar graduated with a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from Kansas State University in 2011 where his research focused on Graphene devices and sensors with his publications garnering >2400 citations till date. Nihar has >56 patents granted in the United States spanning a variety of areas in semiconductor technology and AR display.