Orion Pattern Projectors

Meet the world’s highest performing, most compact family of pattern projectors that improve every aspect of 3D depth sensing for smartphones, robots, AR/VR and the IoT.

Create virtually any dot, line, or flood pattern with an ultra-wide, >150º field of illumination.

Orion pattern projectors are designed to convert the photons emitted from an array of laser emitters (VCSEL) into a high contrast dot or line pattern. Achieving these patterns in a single, flat meta-optic allows them to be easily integrated into a variety of 3D sensing platforms that can meet the requirements of mobile, IoT or robotics applications, both for time of flight and structured light applications.

Starlight structured light dot projector

The Starlight projector consists of a new, wide field pseudorandom dot pattern meta-optic from Metalenz (“Orion 18K”) paired with a pseudorandom VCSEL from Vertilite (“Dolphin”). The Starlight projector is the most compact, high performance, low cost structured light solution available for 3D sensing systems, catering to a range of applications including face authentication for smartphones, contactless access control, security, gesture recognition, obstacle avoidance, and automotive in-cabin monitoring. Generating ~18,000 dots in a pseudorandom pattern at 940nm, Starlight uses the Orion 18k meta-optic to collimate and diffract the light coming from 391 VCSEL emitters arranged in a pseudorandom array. The Orion 18k meta-optic dot pattern provides class leading power per dot with high contrast, making it suitable for use under any indoor/outdoor lighting conditions.

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Illustration of conventional NIR imaging with DOE

illustration of metalenz technology for NIR imaging with a single meta-optic

Combine the function of five optical elements into one meta-optic.

Orion pattern projectors consist of a single meta-optic paired with a VCSEL, wheras traditional sensors require at a minimum two and more typically 4 or 5 optical elements mounted in a lens barrel on top of the VCSEL.

Orion 18K

The Orion 18K pseudorandom dot pattern meta-optic for structured light applications provides ~18,000 dots with class leading power per dot and high contrast, making it suitable for use under any indoor/outdoor lighting conditions. Orion 18K meta-optic brings unique advantages to the structured light sensing market, including lowest module height in the industry, superior pattern precision, a very large field of illumination, and is reflowable and stable at extended operating temperatures.

Graphic illustration of Orion dot pattern

Orion 3.9K

The Metalenz Orion 3.9K Dot Projector produces a wider field of illumination (FOI) with higher throughput efficiency, higher contrast ratio, and better uniformity than dot pattern projectors based on traditional optics. Additional features include a smaller overall footprint which reduces PCB real estate requirements and less strenuous placement and positioning tolerances which reduces assembly time. The Metalenz optic is reflow compatible and offers stable optical performance all the way up to reflow temperature. These mechanical and optical performance improvements over conventional technology make the Metalenz meta-optic dot pattern generator design a superior choice in smartphones, consumer electronics, and other 3D sensing applications.

Advantages of Orion Pattern Projectors

Simpler

Replaces a lens barrel with as many as five optical parts (refractive lenses, collimators, DOEs) with a single meta-surface optic.

Smaller

Consisting of only a single optical element, the Z-height of the lens is significantly reduced, so it can easily fit under any display.

Brighter

Higher dot contrast and smaller divergence angle ensure that light energy is used efficiently enabling high resolution constellations or at far out distances.

Better

Architecture drastically lowers assembly complexity and cost to drive more depth sensing sockets for user authentication and AR/VR.

Next-generation Smartlock and Payment Kiosk systems from Dilusense leverage an Orion meta-optic dot projector from Metalenz, which enables improved structured light pattern to enhance the biometric recognition performance of Dilusense’s 3D sensing systems.

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