# Barmak Heshmat

> Barmak Heshmat is an optical physicist and entrepreneur who founded Brelyon, a San Mateo-based startup creating Ultra Reality displays that generate immersive panoramic virtual screens without any headset. A former MIT Media Lab research scientist and onetime head of optics at Meta's AR division, Heshmat ranked in the top 1% of Iran's national university entrance exam, earned a PhD in optoelectronics from the University of Victoria, filed 8 patents, published 20 journal papers, and now leads a company backed by Lockheed Martin Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, and Corning after raising $18.8M total - solving the fundamental problem of why no one wants to wear a computer on their face.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Brelyon
- **Organizations:** Brelyon, MIT Media Lab, Meta (Facebook Reality Labs), Imaginarium of Technology
- **From:** Iran
- **Nationality:** Iranian-American
- **Education:** B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Communications), Isfahan University of Technology, M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Communications), Isfahan University of Technology, Ph.D. in Optoelectronics and Nanomaterials, University of Victoria
- **Known for:** Ranked top 1% among ~450,000 participants in Iran's national university entrance exam, Invented THz receiver with order-of-magnitude sensitivity improvement over state of the art (PhD, 2013), Published 20 peer-reviewed journal papers in optics and photonics

## Career timeline

- **2002-2006** — B.Sc. at Isfahan University of Technology; awarded president's honor four times
- **2006-2008** — M.Sc. at Isfahan University of Technology
- **2008-2013** — Ph.D. researcher at University of Victoria; invented THz receiver with order-of-magnitude sensitivity improvement
- **2013** — Joined MIT Media Lab Camera Culture group as postdoc under Ramesh Raskar
- **2013-2017** — Research Scientist at MIT Media Lab; led 'inverse problems in light propagation' subgroup; NSF grants for time-resolved imaging; published 20 papers
- **2017** — Head of Optics at Meta (Facebook Reality Labs) - AR division; led optics and design engineering team
- **2018** — Founded Brelyon; co-founded Imaginarium of Technology platform
- **2022** — Launched Ultra Reality display at CES 2022; announced LG Display partnership; raised $15M Series A led by Lockheed Martin Ventures and E14 Fund

## Achievements

- Ranked top 1% among ~450,000 participants in Iran's national university entrance exam
- Invented THz receiver with order-of-magnitude sensitivity improvement over state of the art (PhD, 2013)
- Published 20 peer-reviewed journal papers in optics and photonics
- Filed 8 patents spanning optics, displays, and imaging
- Paper 'THz-time gated imaging' ranked 3rd among 794 similar-age articles in Nature Communications (2016)
- 'Optical brush' imaging featured on MIT spotlight cover page (2016)
- MIT Technology Review 35 Under 35 semi-finalist (2017)
- NSF grant recipient for time-resolved imaging and inverse light transport
- Five-time TEDx invited speaker
- Raised $18.8M total for Brelyon including $15M Series A from Lockheed Martin Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, Corning, UDC Ventures, and Franklin Templeton
- Brelyon's Ultra Reality displays deployed in flight simulators, defense, gaming, and financial services
- Presented at NASA Cross-Industry Innovation Summit

## Latest updates

- **2024-09** — MIT News featured Brelyon's commercial progress, highlighting deployment in flight simulators, gaming, defense, and teleoperations.
- **2022-09** — Brelyon raised $15M Series A led by Lockheed Martin Ventures and E14 Fund, with participation from Corning, LG Technology Ventures, UDC Ventures, and Franklin Templeton.
- **2022-01** — Brelyon launched Ultra Reality display at CES 2022 and announced partnership with LG Display.

## Links

- Website: https://brelyon.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/barmak-heshmat-89934264
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/BrelyonHQ
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8IGRMR3GX99C7V69HUoNYw
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/BrelyonHQ

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/barmak-heshmat
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-14