Systems and methods for improving the brightness of a transparent display using supplemental light sources that include ambient light collected by an array of metasurface lenses

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for improving the brightness of a transparent display and storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to control injection, into a transparent edge-lit liquid crystal waveguide display deployed in at least a portion of a window of a vehicle, primary-source light, filtered ambient light, and filtered internal light, wherein:

• the primary-source light is generated using a light-emitting-diode (LED) light source that outputs, in a predetermined alternating manner, red, green, and blue light;
• ambient light is collected using an array of metasurface lenses disposed on an external surface of the vehicle;
• internal light is collected from headlights of the vehicle;
• the ambient light and the internal light are filtered to produce the filtered ambient light and the filtered internal light, the filtered ambient light and the filtered internal light including red, green, and blue color components;
• the red, green, and blue color components of the filtered ambient light and the filtered internal light are time-synchronized with the red, green, and blue light, respectively, of the primary-source light;
• and
• the filtered ambient light and the filtered internal light improve the brightness of the transparent edge-lit liquid crystal waveguide display.

A method, comprising:

• collecting ambient light using an array of metasurface lenses disposed on an external surface of a vehicle;
• collecting internal light from headlights of the vehicle;
• filtering the ambient light and the internal light to produce filtered ambient light and filtered internal light, the filtered ambient light and the filtered internal light including red, green, and blue color components;
• generating primary-source light using a light-emitting-diode (LED) light source that outputs, in a predetermined alternating manner, red, green, and blue light;
• and
• injecting, into a transparent edge-lit liquid crystal waveguide display deployed in at least a portion of a window of the vehicle, the primary-source light, the filtered ambient light, and the filtered internal light, wherein the red, green, and blue color components of the filtered ambient light and the filtered internal light are time-synchronized with the red, green, and blue light, respectively, of the primary-source light and the filtered ambient light and the filtered internal light improve the brightness of the transparent edge-lit liquid crystal waveguide display.