Ultrafast illumination for structured light based eye tracking

An eye tracking system, comprising:

• a light source to provide collimated light;
• a plurality of diffractive waveguide emitters on a photonic integrated circuit (PIC);
• a plurality of switches to direct the collimated light to project a pattern onto a surface of an eye;
• a sensor system to capture a reflection of the projected pattern from the surface of the eye;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor system and the PIC to obtain three-dimensional (3D) features of the surface of the eye from the captured reflection to determine a gaze of a user.

A method, comprising:

• projecting a fringe pattern onto a surface of an eye by directing collimated light to the surface of an eye;
• capturing a reflection of the projected fringe pattern from the surface of the eye;
• retrieving three-dimensional (3D) features of the surface of the eye from the captured reflection of the projected fringe pattern;
• and
• determining a gaze of a user based on the retrieved 3D features of the surface of the eye.