Grating in a light transmissive illumination system for see-through near-eye display glasses

In a head-mounted device, a method of producing an image, the method comprising:

• producing light via a light source;
• directing light from the light source into an end of a waveguide of a planar illumination facility, the waveguide comprising a grating structure;
• directing the light through the waveguide via total internal reflection;
• turning the light via the grating structure toward a face of the waveguide that is transverse to the end of the waveguide and out of the planar illumination facility toward a reflective image display;
• and
• producing an image from the light via the reflective image display and directing the image through the waveguide for display on a see-through display of the head-mounted device.

An interactive head-mounted device, comprising:

• an optical assembly comprising a light transmissive illumination system, the optical assembly being configured to display virtual content and to enable viewing of at least a portion of a surrounding environment;
• an integrated processor;
• an integrated image source for introducing the virtual content to the optical assembly, the integrated image source including a reflective image display;
• and
• a laser light source coupled to the light transmissive illumination system, wherein the light transmissive illumination system comprises a planar illumination facility comprising
• a waveguide with an end configured to receive an input of light from the laser light source and a face that is transverse to the end,
• the planar illumination facility also comprising a grating configured to redirect the light received from the laser light source at the end of the waveguide toward the face of the waveguide to output the light from the waveguide toward the reflective image display to uniformly irradiate the reflective image display to produce an image, and wherein the reflective image display is configured to reflect the image through the waveguide for display.