Be it for displays or AR glasses: glass plays a pivotal role

Be it in smartphone displays or AR glasses: glass is the material of choice in modern media technology. Its unique properties – ranging from scratch resistance and visual clarity to innovative waveguide technology – are what make digital visions possible.

Be it in smartphone displays, computer monitors or AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) glasses: glass is the material of choice in modern media technology.

This is due to its special material properties.

The qualities of glass in display technology are varied making it an indispensable material for our day and age. Its ruggedness and scratch-resistance reliably protect the sensitive electronics below against external influences such as scratches or the ingress of liquids.

Its smooth, dense surface boasts another practical advantage: it is clearly less susceptible to soiling than other materials.

However, glass not only comes with compelling mechanical properties: its optical characteristics also make for convenience in application. The high transparency of glass ensures brilliant colours and razor-sharp images while its low reflection makes it easy to read displays even in sunlight.

Smart glasses are currently experiencing a real boom. Meta, for example, only launched its new AR glasses in the US this year.

Users can have messenger messages, appointment reminders or translations projected right onto their spectacle lenses.

This is enabled by a key technology: so-called waveguides which move digital images right into the field of vision. A waveguide is a special glass layer that conducts light inside. Through precise refraction and reflection virtual content is made clearly visible and placed over the real environment. Tiny structures such as prisms or mirrors inside the glass route the image directly to the wearer’s eye.

glasstec exhibitor SCHOTT produces just such high-precision waveguides. These are suited for producing comfortable and high-fashion data glasses that optimally fuse the digital and the real world.

This interplay of glass and modern technology impressively shows how an age-old material can re-invent itself time and again – not only easing everyday work but also turning futurist visions into reality.