Augmented reality system and method for spectroscopic analysis

1. A method comprising:

causing one or more head-mounted light sources of a head-mounted display system to emit light in an irradiated field of view;

causing one or more electromagnetic radiation detectors, which are configured to receive reflected light from a target object irradiated by the one or more head-mounted light sources within the irradiated field of view, to detect light from the irradiated field of view including the target object;

determining an ambient light correction by detecting ambient light levels;

applying the ambient light correction to the detected light to determine levels of light absorption related to the emitted light and reflected light from the target object;

identifying, based on the levels of light absorption, a characteristic of the target object; and

displaying an output associated with the characteristic of the target object to a user on the head-mounted display system.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing an absorption database of light absorption properties of a plurality of materials.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ambient light correction comprises one or more of an ambient light intensity value, an average of a plurality of ambient light intensity values, a median of a plurality of ambient light intensity values, and a time-domain ambient light intensity function.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a gaze of the user of the head-mounted display system, wherein the irradiated field of view is substantially in a same direction as the detected gaze.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting of the ambient light levels is performed by the one or more electromagnetic radiation detectors.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

capturing, via an ambient light detector, ambient light not emitted by the one or more head-mounted light sources, the ambient light including one or more wavelengths emitted by the one or more light sources.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the ambient light detector comprises at least one of a photodiode, a photodetector, and a digital camera sensor.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

causing the ambient light detector to detect light while the one or more light sources are not emitting light; and

determining the ambient light correction based at least in part on the light detected by the ambient light detector.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

attenuating, via an anti-scatter grid coupled to the head-mounted display system between the target object and the one or more electromagnetic radiation detectors, at least a portion of scattered light and ambient light incident upon the anti-scatter grid.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the anti-scatter grid is further disposed between the target object and a detector for detecting ambient light levels.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more light sources are configured to emit the light in a series of time-separated pulses, and further comprising:

identifying time-separated pulses of reflected light corresponding to the time-separated pulses emitted by the one or more light sources; and

determining the ambient light correction based at least in part on an intensity of light detected at the one or more electromagnetic radiation detectors between the time-separated pulses of reflected light.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the time-separated pulses of reflected light are detected at the one or more electromagnetic radiation detectors.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more electromagnetic radiation detectors comprises at least one of a photodiode and a photodetector.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more electromagnetic radiation detectors comprises a digital image sensor.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, via an inertial measurement unit positional system, a pose orientation of the user's head.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the irradiated field of view is at least as wide as the pose orientation.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

outputting, via a waveguide stack, light with selectively variable levels of wavefront divergence.

18. A method comprising:

detecting ambient light of a first wavelength within an irradiated field of view;

emitting light of the first wavelength toward a target object;

detecting light of the first wavelength reflected by the target object;

subtracting an intensity of the detected ambient light of the first wavelength from an intensity of the detected light reflected by the target object to calculate a level of light absorption related to the emitted light and the reflected light from the target object;

identifying, based on an absorption database of light absorption properties of a plurality of materials, a material characteristic of the target object; and

displaying, to a user, an output associated with the material characteristic.

19. A method comprising:

emitting light of a first wavelength in an irradiated field of view from one or more head-mounted light sources, the light comprising a time-encoded variation;

detecting light of the first wavelength reflected from a target object within the irradiated field of view;

identifying, based at least in part on the detected light and the time-encoded variation, an ambient light component of the detected light and a reflected component of the detected light;

identifying, based at least in part on the reflected component and an absorption database of light absorption properties of at least one material, a material characteristic of the target object; and

displaying, to a user, an output associated with the material characteristic.