Not sure if Facebook is stepping away from AR/VR. Oculus/ Facebook reality labs is still hiring plenty of folks in the optics/ photonics world.. even making announcements over the last week on open positions.
This is an uninformed opinion yeah. Facebook is recruiting HEAVILY and appears to have the published state-of-the-art research in the field. They also recently acquired a hot startup in the field, Scape based in London, and kickstarted Facebook Reality Labs in London which is hiring. They are also hiring in Seattle.
If someone wants to look how Microsoft is also doing from a engineering PoV, watch this cool video from Marc Pollefys from ETH Zurich/Microsoft. It was made for a technical-minded scene and shows the behind-the-scene, some potential issues (privacy) and where it is going next https://vimeo.com/380218937
