43‐3: Distinguished Paper: Breaking the Optical Efficiency Limit of Pancake Optics in Virtual Reality

Abstract

We propose a theoretically lossless pancake optics solution that incorporates a nonreciprocal polarization rotator sandwiched between two reflective polarizers. A proof‐of‐concept experiment using a commercially available Faraday rotator (FR) is implemented. The theoretically predicted 100% efficiency can indeed be achieved approximately by using two high extinction ratio reflective polarizers.