Limbak

Limbak was a Spanish optical technology company that specialized in developing advanced optics for virtual reality and augmented reality devices. The company was known for its innovative ThinEyes™ technology, which significantly improved the resolution, weight, and form factor of head-mounted displays (HMDs). Founded in 2013, Limbak was acquired by Apple Inc. in late 2022.

Limbak
Information
Type	Private
Industry	Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Optical Technology
Founded	2013, Madrid, Spain
Founder	Pablo Benítez, Juan Carlos Miñano
Headquarters	Madrid, Spain
Notable Personnel	Pablo Benítez (CTO), Juan Carlos Miñano, Milena Nikolic
Products	ThinEyes™ Optical Technology, Foveated Optics, Pancake Optics
Parent	Apple Inc. (since 2022)
Website	www.limbak.com (no longer active)

See also: Companies

History

Limbak was founded in 2013 in Madrid, Spain by Pablo Benítez and Juan Carlos Miñano, both renowned optical engineers with extensive experience in developing advanced optical systems. Prior to founding Limbak, the two co-founders had already established another company called LPI in 1999, demonstrating their long-standing partnership in optical innovation.

The company quickly became known for its unique approach to solving optical challenges in VR headsets. In 2018, Limbak received funding from the Consejería de Educación e Investigación de la Comunidad de Madrid for the THINEYES project, which aimed to bring their technology from the prototype stage to commercial readiness.

By 2020, the company had gained significant recognition in the industry, with co-founder Pablo Benítez receiving the prestigious SPIE A.E. Conrady Award in Optical Engineering for his exceptional contributions to the field.

In December 2022, reports emerged that Limbak had been acquired by a "large US company," with its website going offline around July 2022. By December 31, 2022, industry analyst Brad Lynch confirmed that Apple was the company that had acquired Limbak.

Technology

ThinEyes™ Technology

Limbak's primary innovation was its ThinEyes™ technology, a family of non-conventional optical systems specifically designed for VR headsets. The key advantages of ThinEyes™ technology included:

• 2.25x higher resolution than conventional optics
• Half the weight of traditional VR optics
• Quarter of the size of standard solutions
• Greater than 100° field of view (FOV)

The company's optical designs were protected by multiple international patents, including WO2015077718A1, WO2016118640A1, WO2016118643A1, WO2016118647A1, WO2016118648A1, and WO2016160099A2.

Optical Innovations

Limbak developed several variations of its ThinEyes™ technology, each addressing specific challenges in VR and AR optics:

Key Limbak Optical Technologies

Technology	Description	Applications
ThinEyes™ Clover	Compound optics mixing reflective and refractive elements in a single device	Used in the Lynx AR headset
Super Pancake	Advanced version of pancake optics with improved efficiency	VR headsets requiring thin form factors
ThinEyes™ Crystal	Combined multiple displays for a wider field of view	High-end VR/AR applications
Trenza	Multi-lens array with "pixel interlacing" for increased central resolution	Foveated displays that match human visual acuity

Foveated Optics

One of Limbak's most significant innovations was in the field of foveated optics, which mimics the natural properties of human vision by providing higher resolution in the center of the visual field (where the eye's fovea is focused) and lower resolution in the periphery. This approach allowed VR headsets to deliver high perceived resolution while maintaining reasonable computational requirements and display specifications.

The company's pancake optics design implemented optical foveation in two ways:

1. Variable magnification across the field of view, with maximum pixel density at the center and gradual reduction toward the edges
2. Optimized MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) that provided the best image quality for directly gazed fields

Ultra-Compact Design

Limbak's advanced VR optical designs achieved remarkable compactness, with some solutions weighing only 15g (optics only) and featuring a track length of just 36mm while still providing a 100° field of view. These designs used ThinEyes® technology applied to pancake optics to dramatically increase resolution at the center of the virtual reality space while maintaining excellent imaging quality across the entire field of view.

Commercial Applications

While Limbak primarily operated as an IP company focusing on optical design rather than manufacturing complete products, its technology was incorporated into several notable VR and AR headsets:

• Lynx R-1: This mixed reality headset featured Limbak's ThinEyes® Clover optics, which Lynx described as a "4x catadioptric free-form prism." The design stitched images together from four lens elements to provide a particularly sharp image in the center of the field of view.

• Simula One: This Linux-based VR headset also incorporated Limbak's optical technology.

• LOMID Project: Limbak collaborated with Fraunhofer on a VR headset with 25 pixels per degree and a 37mm track-to-lens distance as part of the EU-funded LOMID (Large cost-effective OLED microdisplays and their applications) project.

Research and Development

Limbak was highly active in research and development, participating in several EU-funded projects:

• THINEYES UCSF: Led by Dr. Milena Nikolic, who was awarded a Senior Doctorate Grant to develop this project at Limbak.

• Phabulous: Limbak was a partner in this 19-entity consortium focused on advancing the manufacture of free-form micro-optical components.

• SUPERPANC: Selected by the XR4ALL initiative to develop and demonstrate the benefits of super-pancake optics for XR devices.

• LOMID: A research project funded under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

Acquisition by Apple

In late 2022, Limbak was acquired by Apple, as reported by industry observers and later confirmed by multiple sources. The acquisition was part of Apple's broader strategy to develop its own AR and VR technology.

The acquisition became public knowledge when the Limbak website went offline, with the last archived capture of the site dating to July 3, 2022. By December 31, 2022, industry analyst Brad Lynch reported that his sources confirmed Apple was the company that had acquired Limbak.

This acquisition came at a time when major technology companies were increasingly purchasing specialized optical firms to secure intellectual property for upcoming XR devices. Meta (formerly Facebook) had similarly acquired lens specialist Luxexcel around the same time.

Impact on the Industry

The acquisition raised concerns about market consolidation, with some industry observers noting that the trend of large companies acquiring specialized technology providers could make it increasingly difficult for smaller hardware manufacturers to compete through innovation.

For Limbak's existing clients like Lynx and SimulaVR, the acquisition was reported to have no impact on their current products, though it potentially affected their future product development by limiting access to Limbak's technology for new designs.

Legacy

Limbak's innovations in optical design, particularly its approach to foveated optics and compact form factors, have had a lasting impact on the VR and AR industry. The company's technologies addressed some of the most significant challenges facing XR devices, including:

• Reducing the size and weight of headsets to improve comfort
• Increasing resolution to enhance immersion and reduce eye strain
• Expanding the field of view while maintaining optical quality
• Optimizing power efficiency through smarter optical designs

As part of Apple, Limbak's optical technology and expertise are likely contributing to Apple's development of advanced AR and VR products, though the specific applications remain confidential as of early 2025.