Hologram Industry News

Very soon holograms will be made in less than a minute. 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. The work, which started about two years ago, was done in collaboration with Nitto Denko Technical Corp. and was funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

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.”

According to the sources the technology will be helpful in medical science. “Three-dimensional imaging techniques are already commonly used in medicine, for example, in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or CT scan (computerized 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 3-D holograms, every hospital in the world will want one.”
Sources : http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uoa-uo020508.php
Contact: Lori Stiles
lstiles@email.arizona.edu
520-626-4402
University of Arizona
hologram.pdf

Nextspace, a graphical communication company in New Zealand, has joined a European research consortium that plans to take medical training “to the next level” by letting surgical teams practice operations on holograms. Accroding to Chief executive Roy Davies training would take place in “mixed reality operating theatres where everything was real except the patient”.
“They look ghostly, because they are made up of light, but it does look like a thing hovering over the table.” Surgeons would be equipped with “virtual reality” gloves that would give them the sensation of touching the patient as they operated.
Surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses could all be involved in the virtual operation, increasing the sense of credibility.
Nextspace formed with the assistance of the Government in January with the aim of creating a $1 billion industry by finding commercial applications for 3D technology developed by New Zealand-founded company Right Hemisphere. It is owned by a nonprofit trust.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4269681a28.html