Rare Opportunity To Explore Augmented, Virtual, Mixed Reality Systems To Be Offered At SPIE Digital Optical Technologies

Four systems available in demonstration session at conference in Munich in June

Hands-on demonstrations of the world's most advanced augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headsets will be a highlight of SPIE Digital Optical Technologies in Munich in June. The latest devices from Microsoft, Oculus, HTC, Sony, Google and Samsung will be available in what organizer Bernard Kress of Microsoft says is the first such demonstration session available to the public.

"Being able to fully experience and compare the world's most advanced AR and VR headsets in a single location is remarkable". Kress said. "These systems will soon revolutionize the way people communicate, teach, learn and explore, shop, play and are entertained, and be more productive in their personal and professional lives."

Kress, along with Wolfgang Osten of Universität Stuttgart and Paul Urbach of Technische Universiteit Delft, chairs SPIE Digital Optical Technologies.

Debuting this year, the conference is focused on components, systems design, and applications of emerging digital optical technologies with applications across social, academic, medical, and industrial fields. It will run 25 through 29 June at the Internationales Congress Center in Munich, and is organized by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Demonstrations will be held 26 through 28 June, in conjunction with the conference.

Users will be able to evaluate four systems in parallel with their choice of one of four devices:

• Microsoft Hololens mixed reality headset
• Oculus CV1 virtual reality headset and hand controllers
• HTC Vive virtual reality headset and hand controllers
• Sony Playstation VR virtual reality headset and hand controllers.

Registration for the demonstration session is required, via email to innovation(at)spie.org. Registration is available at no cost to registered attendees of SPIE Digital Optical Technologies and SPIE Optical Metrology, as well as other events that are also part of the World of Photonics Congress.

Plenary sessions will feature talks by Federico Capasso of Harvard University on metasurface diffractive optics, and Jörg Wachtrup of Universität Stuttgart on the quest for the ultimate quantum machine.

About SPIE
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves nearly 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2016, SPIE provided $4M in support of education and outreach programs. For more information, visit www.spie.org.