Eidetical
Active member
- Joined
- May 14, 2022
- Messages
- 201
- Points
- 43
The modern technique of holography really got its start with the introduction of the first laser that gave a visible AND continuous beam 60 years ago this month. Lasers made the recording of three dimensional imagery with full parallax and great depth possible. The resulting "holograms" were described as being "like a window with a memory".
For the next 50 years, the amazing images produced by holography had mostly been static. People wanted movies. In the past decade however, liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) displays have been made with smaller and smaller pixels. These are the type of displays used in modern business pico-projectors, and AR/VR headsets. The pixels are so small now, that holograms can be displayed on them that can reconstruct fully dimensional, full color, AND dynamic imagery.
Those displays can only be made very small now, about the size of a postage stamp at the largest, so the images I'm talking about can only be seen by one eye per display. The picture below shows an image projected onto a screen by such a display. The bird is fully dimensional. If the screen is moved nearer to or farther from the display, different parts of the image are in focus on it.
This 3x5.4 mm 1080P display was made by Compound Photonics (where I worked for 5 years) about four years ago. Its pixels are only 2.79 microns wide with really small inter-pixel gaps. These are apparently still the smallest such pixels available.
I spend a lot of time "living in the past" regarding laser and holographic technology, but my work day is more focused on the future of both. Dynamic holography is beyond "digital". It's holographic!
For the next 50 years, the amazing images produced by holography had mostly been static. People wanted movies. In the past decade however, liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) displays have been made with smaller and smaller pixels. These are the type of displays used in modern business pico-projectors, and AR/VR headsets. The pixels are so small now, that holograms can be displayed on them that can reconstruct fully dimensional, full color, AND dynamic imagery.
Those displays can only be made very small now, about the size of a postage stamp at the largest, so the images I'm talking about can only be seen by one eye per display. The picture below shows an image projected onto a screen by such a display. The bird is fully dimensional. If the screen is moved nearer to or farther from the display, different parts of the image are in focus on it.
This 3x5.4 mm 1080P display was made by Compound Photonics (where I worked for 5 years) about four years ago. Its pixels are only 2.79 microns wide with really small inter-pixel gaps. These are apparently still the smallest such pixels available.
I spend a lot of time "living in the past" regarding laser and holographic technology, but my work day is more focused on the future of both. Dynamic holography is beyond "digital". It's holographic!
