Posted by Christina Folz, OPN Managing Editor
The Nov. 11 Kojo Nnamdi show on NPR featured a fascinating interview with OSA member Tung H. Jeong, professor emeritus at Lake Forest College. Jeong discussed the technology of holograms as part of the show's "Tech Tuesday" segment. Jeong was asked about CNN's use of a so-called "holographic" technology when it beamed 3D images of its guests into the network's studio on election night. Jeong pointed out that those images were not actual holograms--and explained why. In fact, he said, "there is no relationship between the two except showing images." Jeong was later joined by physicist Hans Jurgen Kreuzer of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. The two described how the field of holography is advancing to include new applications in data storage, cellular manipulation, and holographic 3D TV. Regarding the latter: Because everyone would have to wear their own special glasses to see the holographic images, a key advantage is that "you don't have to fight for the remote," Jeong said.
Posted by Christina Folz, OPN Managing Editor
I can still remember how excited I was when I saw the March 1984 issue of my father’s National Geographic magazine, which featured the laser-sculpted image of an eagle on its cover. That was the first time I ever saw a hologram. (After doing a quick Google search, I’ve learned that that particular issue is now selling for close to $200; it may be time to revisit my parents’ stash of old magazines!)
Now there is reason to believe that the eagle may one day take flight. OSA Fellow Nasser Peyghambarian and his colleagues at the University of Arizona, along with engineers from Nitto Denko Technical Corporation, in Oceanside, Calif., have produced a prototype of the first photorefractive polymer film in which 3D images can be captured, erased and re-recorded. Similar to a paper “flip book” of images taken in rapid succession, a series of these holograms—when captured quickly—can create the illusion of 3D motion.
For more details and images of the holographic film, check out the recent news pieces in IEEE Spectrum and Scientific American.
And stay tuned for an OPN feature article on this technology by Peyghambarian himself in a summer issue of OPN. We probably won’t feature a flying eagle on our cover, but a girl can dream, can’t she?