2.7g and 0.55mm Thin Mass-Production Material Lowers Price of Smart Wearable Devices: China's New Research Technology Makes AR Glasses Lighter and Thinner

Putting on a pair of light and stylish glasses allows one to see the effect of real-world and virtual information superimposed, a scenario once appeared in sci-fi movies, is now step-by-step accelerating into daily life at the lab of Westlake University. Recently, Westlake University globally launched the technological achievement of "extremely thin carbon silicon carbide AR diffraction waveguide without rainbow effect", and also released the ultra-thin AR lens successfully developed based on this technology. A single lens weighs only 2.7 grams, lighter than ordinary myopic lenses, and is only 0.55 mm thick. If widely applied and mass-produced in the future, it is expected to lower the price of smart wearable devices.

Du Kaikai, a postdoctoral researcher at Westlake University and CEO of Mudewei Technology Co., Ltd. (Hangzhou), said that initially when they got in touch with silicon carbide materials, they did not think about applying them to AR glasses. “Not until we encountered transparent silicon carbide and noticed its refractive index did we start to research the advantages its refractive index could bring, and then we also discovered its low density, high hardness, and good thermal conductivity.”

Nano structures avoid rainbow interference
“The weight of everyday worn myopic lenses generally ranges from 3 to 6 grams, while this AR glass lens adopts new carbide material, with a very low density, resulting in a single lens weighing only 2.7 grams. It also doesn't produce the so-called rainbow effect, so when we wear them, they don't radiate rainbow patterns due to light.” Du Kaikai introduced, the main reason for such ultimate image quality is the use of diffraction waveguide technology. “Diffraction waveguide technology mainly relies on nano-sized lattice structures to present the projected images from the side to our eyes. Due to the nano size of the grating, there are two faint small frames in the middle of the 0.55mm lens, but it is completely transparent.”

Meanwhile, to further enhance the performance of AR diffraction waveguides and the wearing experience, the team broke the convention, perfectly combining micro-nano optics technology capacity with the nature of silicon carbide material, crafting these extremely thin carbide AR glasses, bringing them out of the lab and into the public view.

Lens prices are expected to drop to tens of yuan in the future
Since last year, head-mounted electronic devices such as Apple Vision Pro have been introduced to the market and received a lot of attention, but the high prices of up to tens of thousands of RMB have also left many consumers hesitant. Therefore, the price of the new silicon carbide AR glasses has become a concern for everyone.

Du Kaikai said: "Once a material enters large-scale production, its cost can be greatly reduced, especially as the production raw materials of silicon carbide are carbon and silicon powder. When the raw material costs are very low, the product prices cannot remain indefinitely high, so we can still expect that it will enter ordinary households in the future."

“We have to trust in the ingenuity of us Chinese people.” Westlake University Guoqiang Chair Professor, Vice President, and Chief Scientist of Mudewei Technology Co., Ltd., Qiu Min, smilingly explained to the reporter, “Diamond used to be expensive, but we have now managed large-scale diamond production. Also, the substrate material of LED lights we use daily is sapphire, which used to be very expensive as well, but it went from two or three thousand yuan per piece to tens of yuan now. If our silicon carbide AR glasses become widely adopted, with an annual production of hundreds of thousands or millions of pieces, we believe that its price could also drop from two or three thousand yuan to around a hundred yuan, and possibly one day to just tens of yuan.”