The technologies of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are the new paradigm for visual interaction with graphical environments. The features of VR are interactivity and immersion. To achieve these features, a visual display that is high resolution and wide field of view is necessary. For AR a visual display that allows ready viewing of the real world, with superimposition of the computer graphics is necessary. Current display technologies require compromises that prevent full implementation of VR and AR. A new display technology called the Virtual Retinal Display (VRD) has been created. The VRD has features that can be optimized for the human computer interfaces.
As one stares at a computer monitor, light is focused into a dime-sized image on the retina at the back of our eyeball. The retina converts the light into signals that enters our brain via the optic nerve. To eliminate the bulky, power-hungry monitor by painting the images themselves directly onto your retina. To do so, use tiny semiconductor lasers or special light-emitting diodes, one each for the three primary colors—red, green, and blue—and scan their light onto the retina, mixing the colors to produce the entire palette of human vision. Short of tapping into the optic nerve, there is no more efficient way to get an image into your brain. And they call it the Virtual Retinal Display, or generally a retinal scanning imaging system.
VRD readily creates images that can be easily seen in the ambient room light and it can create images that can be seen in ambient day light. All subjects are readily able to match the VRD brightness