Apple Vision Pro recently introduced optical inserts from Zeiss to accommodate users that wear glasses. A new patent published today show that Apple is already working on more advanced next-gen solutions for prescription lenses for their headset and future smartglasses that may reduce bulk.

Liquid Crystal Compounds and Compositions for Tunable Lenses

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to compounds and compositions that can be used as liquid crystal materials in adjustable ophthalmic lenses.

In Apple's patent background they not that ophthalmic lenses are ophthalmic devices that alter or change the visual powers of the human eye. Adjustable ophthalmic lenses can be tuned to change visible properties of light passing therethrough.

Tunable lenses can include one or more liquid crystal cells. Each liquid crystal cell can include a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between transparent substrates. Control circuitry can apply control signals to an array of electrodes in the liquid crystal cell to adjust a phase profile of the liquid crystal material. In various arrangements, an adjustable lens can include multiple liquid crystal cells (e.g., three or six liquid crystal cells). The electrodes in the liquid crystal cells can be oriented along three different directions.

Apple's invention is directed to compounds and compositions that can be used as liquid crystal materials in ophthalmic lenses. In some variations, the compounds can be used as liquid crystal materials, or can be combined into compositions that are used as liquid crystal materials. The compounds have a rigid core comprising one or more phenyl groups linked by a single bond or a pi-electron containing bridge group, a polar group linked to a terminal phenyl substituent of the rigid core, a non-polar terminal group opposite the rigid phenyl core, and optionally one or more transverse substituents. Compositions are combinations of different individual compounds.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 is a side view of an illustrative liquid crystal cell that can be used to form an adjustable lens; FIG. 2 is a side view of an illustrative liquid crystal module having first and second liquid crystal layers with antiparallel liquid crystal alignment orientations; FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an illustrative adjustable lens having first, second, and third liquid crystal cells, each with an associated orientation of electrodes.

Apple's patent FIG. 5 above is an exploded perspective view of an illustrative adjustable lens having first, second, and third liquid crystal modules, each with an associated orientation of electrodes; FIG. 6 depicts the band gap of the change in polarizability for several example compounds.

For finer details, review Apple's patent application number 20230212458.

Apple's work on prescription lenses for HMDs and Smartglasses began in 2018. Patently Apple covered other patents that you could review here; 01, 02, 03, 04 (with image from that patent presented below).