As augmented reality technology improves, the holography of Iron Man and Avatar moves a step closer to entering our everyday lives.

Microsoft Research has staked its claim in this future this week by revealing a prototype that enables an improved AR experience.

The new technology fits on regular spectacles and produces images and holograms for the wearer.

A laser projects onto the near-eye display, making images appear more sharply than ever before through simple eyewear.

The technology utilises a relatively wide field of view at 80 degrees, and is able to ensure projected images are crisply in view across the whole display, albeit only one lens at the moment.

While an exciting development, the prototype is still in the development phase and far from commercial production.

But its compact form is an exciting development sure to pique the interest of other tech companies.

The well-publicised failure of Google Glass left the company scratching its head and the public left with the "glassholes" terminology. Snap's Spectacles may follow a similar path without embracing better technology. And both Facebook and Apple have courted discussions around AR eyeglasses.

"Virtual and augmented reality near-eye displays offer great potential to take us to new places, provide instant and spatially-aware access to information, and begin to integrate computer graphics with human vision," the Microsoft team writes in the research paper.

The team also developed a way to account for astigmatism in the way it displayed the holograms, meaning users with the common eye condition could use the technology with prescription glasses and still see the renderings clearly.