Holographic display startup Swave Photonics today announced the development of what is claimed to be the world’s first 3D holographic display technology for compact extended reality form factors such as smart glasses.

Swave’s new Holographic eXtended Reality is a new type of advanced display technology that produces a pixel pitch of less than 300 nanometers — small enough to steer light and sculpt high-resolution images. The chip-based technology allows for artificial intelligence-powered spatial computing with a reality-first user experience where the digital elements complement, learn from and interact with the physical world.

The first application for the HXR display technology will be low-cost, lightweight augmented reality smart glass with an all-day battery life.

Swave’s technology is able to sculpt lightwaves into natural, high-resolution 3D images to achieve true holography through light diffraction and interference. The technology allows the human brain and eyes to visually process the image naturally without waveguides, varifocal lenses, or stereoscopy, solving the issue of vergence-accommodation conflict. That’s where stereoscopic images distort the relationship between vergence — where eyes attempt to look in opposite directions at the same time — and accommodation reflexes, causing headaches, nausea and fatigue.

Under the hood, the chip offers a spatial light modulator specifically designed for digital holography and AI-powered spatial computing. Unlike existing technology, the chip allows for compact form factors for everyday use and is also compatible with an eyeglass prescription. Combined, the chip and hardware works seamlessly with AI services like image recognition, visual search, navigation and translation.

Although the technology is cutting-edge, surprisingly it’s not all that expensive. Swave uses low-cost CMOS chip technology and efficient system architecture for manufacturing to deliver what it says is a cost-effective, scalable and swift path to commercialization. The chip manufacturing process uses established semiconductor technology used in everyday technologies and limits power consumption to avoid constant recharging.

“Today’s spatial computing experiences isolate the user and create mostly digital or unrealistic experiences, let alone an uncomfortable fit or look,” said Chief Executive Mike Noonen. “Swave focuses on reality-first XR where the user sees, for example, 90% reality and 10% augmented images. And by using such a small chipset that delivers a high-performance display, our technology obviates the need for bulky headsets or overly conspicuous glasses.”

Swave was spun out as a standalone company from Belgium-based IMEC, the Interuniversity Microelectronic Center, in 2022, and its technology has been under development for over 10 years. The company is venture capital-backed, having raised a seed round of $11 million from investors including imec.xpand NV, Flanders Future Tech Fund CVBA, QBIC Venture Capital Fund CV, Acequia Capital LLC and Luminate NY.

Image: Swave Photonics