Hologram Industry News

University of Arizona optical scientists have broken a technological barrier by making three-dimensional holographic displays that can be erased and rewritten in a matter of minutes. A 3-D holographic image that can be updated and viewed without special glasses may soon find its way from a UA optics lab to operating rooms and battlefield command centers.

The holographic displays – which are viewed without special eyewear – are the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory ever to be developed, making them ideal tools for medical, industrial and military applications that require “situational awareness.”

And what the entertainment and advertising industries could do with a lifelike image apparently appearing in thin air is anyone’s guess.
The unique component in this holographic system — a 4-inch-square glass-and-polymer display surface — is its ability to change, to be updated, rewritten, says Savas Tay, the lead scientist on this invention.
That holographic bird on your credit card can’t turn into something else every few minutes, but Tay’s display can take an image rendered in three dimensions — initially photographed or computer-generated — and display it on the display surface, followed by another and another.
The technology will be said. “Imagine that when you walk into the supermarket or department store, you could see a large, dynamic, three-dimensional product display,” he said. It would be an attention-grabber.
And no one yet knows where the advertising and entertainment industries will go with possible applications, Peyghambarian said. “Imagine that when you walk into the supermarket or department store, you could see a large, dynamic, three-dimensional product display,” he said.

“This is a new type of device, nothing like the tiny hologram of a dove on your credit card,” UA optical sciences professor Nasser Peyghambarian said. “The hologram on your credit card is printed permanently. You cannot erase the image and replace it with an entirely new three-dimensional picture.”

“Holography has been around for decades, but holographic displays are really one of the first practical applications of the technique,” UA optical scientist Savas Tay said.

Dynamic hologram displays could be made into devices that help surgeons track progress during lengthy and complex brain surgeries, show airline or fighter pilots any hazards within their entire surrounding airspace, or give emergency response teams nearly real-time views of fast-changing flood or traffic problems, for example.

And no one yet knows where the advertising and entertainment industries will go with possible applications, Peyghambarian

“Three-dimensional imaging techniques are already commonly used in medicine, for example, in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) or CAT scan (Computerized Axial Tomography) techniques,” Tay said. “However, the huge amount of data that is created in three dimensions is still being displayed on two-dimensional devices, either on a computer screen or on a piece of paper. A great amount of data is lost by displaying it this way. So I think when we develop larger, full-color 3D holograms, every hospital in the world will want one.”

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uoa-uo020508.php

CONTACTS:
Nasser Peyghambarian (520-621-4649; nnp@u.arizona.edu) Savas Tay (520-245-9722; savas.tay@gmail.com)
It updates 3-D images; may aid doctors
By Dan Sorenson
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.11.2008
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