Optical systems with switchable lenses for mitigating variations in ambient brightness

An electronic device comprising:

• a light source configured to emit illumination light;
• a switchable optical component configured to transmit the illumination light;
• a spatial light modulator having a display panel configured to modulate the illumination light transmitted by the switchable optical component to produce image light, the display panel having a lateral area;
• an optical combiner configured to combine the image light with real-world light;
• control circuitry configured to control the switchable optical component to focus the illumination light on a subset of the lateral area of the display panel;
• and
• a light sensor configured to generate sensor data, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the switchable optical component to provide the illumination light to the spatial light modulator with a uniform brightness across the lateral area when the sensor data indicates that an ambient brightness for the electronic device is less than a threshold.

An electronic device comprising:

• a light source that emits illumination light;
• a switchable optical component that transmits the illumination light and that is adjustable between at least first and second states;
• a display panel that modulates the illumination light transmitted by the switchable optical component to produce image light, wherein:
• the display panel has a lateral area,
• in the first state, the switchable optical component is configured to provide the illumination light to the display panel with a uniform intensity across the lateral area,
• in the second state, the switchable optical component is configured to provide the illumination to the display panel with a first intensity within a subset of the lateral area and with a second intensity outside of the subset of the lateral area,
• the first intensity is greater than the uniform intensity, and
• the second intensity is less than the uniform intensity;
• a waveguide;
• an input coupler configured to receive the image light from the display panel and configured to couple the image light into the waveguide, wherein the waveguide is configured to propagate the image light via total internal reflection after the image light has been coupled into the waveguide by the input coupler;
• and
• an output coupler configured to couple the image light out of the waveguide and towards an eye box.