The industry’s most innovative people 2024 Jörg Reitterer
Organisation: TriLite Technologies Role: Co-founder & CTO Based in: Vienna, Austria Education: PhD, electrical engineering and microsystems technology, TU Wien
What are you currently working on? What will the impact be? We at TriLite are developing the world’s smallest, lightest, and brightest projection displays for high-volume consumer augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) applications. These devices will be as lightweight as the eyewear of today, while being capable of overlaying digital content over the environment, enabling a plethora of new applications, ranging from communication and entertainment to work and education. This disruptive technology has the potential to replace other products, which are ubiquitous today, such as smartphones, smartwatches, headphones, and any other display systems like TVs and monitors.
What was the most surprising thing you found in the course of your latest research? In our product development, we follow the paradigm of shifting as much complexity as possible away from the hardware, i.e., optics, to the software domain. What is surprising is the sheer amount of possibilities this “software-defined display” architecture opens up in terms of minimising power consumption and latency, optimising image quality by controlling position and brightness at subpixel accuracy, and providing unique features for AR systems.
What’s your biggest research priority in the coming year? Our biggest priority in the coming year will be to bring our award-winning projection display product Trixel 3 (SPIE Prism Award 2023 and AWE Auggie Award 2023) to mass production, enabling our industry- leading customers to build high-volume consumer AR devices with outstanding user experience.
In your opinion, what is the most significant photonics technology (other than one you have worked on) to emerge in the past 12 months and why? Optical metasurfaces have recently emerged as a potentially disruptive photonics technology to replace a wide range of bulky optical elements. For example, metalenses introduce new capabilities in terms of ultra-compact size, multifunctionality, tunability, and aberration correction that are not possible with traditional lenses. Another exciting new frontier are active metasurfaces, which can be dynamically
diversifying supply sources and maintaining strategic stockpiles of critical components.
Which photonics sector do you see as having the greatest opportunity for growth in the next 12 months? According to various surveys, AR/VR/MR is poised to become a staggering $1tn market by 2030. In the next 12 months, this will be fueled by significant players entering the market, such as Apple with its Vision Pro MR headset.
“Metalenses introduce new capabilities in terms of ultra-compact size, multifunctionality, tunability, and aberration correction that are not possible with traditional lenses”
reconfigured as well as used to generate or detect light, enabling applications such as solid-state beam steering without any moving parts or novel ultra-bright and directional light sources.
What are the biggest challenges or threats to the industry in the next 12 months? How can these be overcome? The photonics industry requires highly skilled professionals, and shortages in talent with specialised knowledge can impede growth. This can be overcome by investing in workforce development and education programs and by collaborating with universities and institutions to foster a talent pipeline. Like many other industries, the photonics sector can also be vulnerable to supply-chain disruptions, including shortages of critical components and materials. This can be mitigated by
Thinking about your current location, what are the challenges or opportunities faced by photonics researchers or companies in that country specifically? (For example, in relation to industry bodies, government support, legislation or trade agreements) Austria has a thriving innovation ecosystem, with many companies, universities, and research institutions actively engaged in photonics research. This provides opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange. The Austrian government provides strong support for research and development activities, including in photonics. Companies and researchers can benefit from government grants, subsidies, and incentives for innovation. A general challenge, that also applies to Austria, is to find and retain skilled researchers and professionals, especially in highly specialised fields within photonics.
What is your proudest moment in photonics so far? Transforming a concept from initial whiteboard brainstorming to patent filings, prototype development, and the mass production of products can be a highly demanding yet deeply rewarding journey. This is particularly true in the field of photonics, where one of the most essential and vital qualities is perseverance, as these processes often require a significant investment of time.
Where can people find you online? LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/jreitterer/ ResearchGate:
www.researchgate.net/ profile/Joerg-Reitterer
Where can people see you in person over the next year? CES 2024; SPIE AR/VR/MR 2024; AWE USA 2024; AWE EU 2024.
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