New material may make holograms common*
By Sid Perkins
UPI Science News
LAKE FOREST, Ill., July 22 (UPI) -- The ability to mass-produce true-color
holograms may soon bring the laser-generated images out of the lab and
into everyday life.
Imagine three-dimensional X-rays, theft-proof exhibits of a jewelry
store's precious stones, and traveling shows of artwork where priceless
originals never leave the museum.
Scientists, businessmen and artists are converging on Lake Forest College
in Illinois for a conference this week to discuss these possibilities and
to see the latest advances in holography.
Dr. Tung H. Jeong, director of photonic studies at the college, says a new
light-sensitive polymer film developed by DuPont has allowed his lab to
produce unlimited copies of a "master" hologram.
Holograms are three-dimensional images produced by a laser, and they
appear so real it's hard to distinguish them from the original object.
Until 1994, holograms were single-colored and had limited practical
uses.
But Jeong says the realism of color holography and the ability to make
unlimited copies could spur revolutions in advertising, security labels
and computer data storage.
Jeong says color holography now can display only still images but may
someday allow real-time pictures.
Imagine, if you will, a device that projects images of a football game
onto your living room area rug, complete with linebackers three inches
tall (7.6 cm) and towering six-foot (1.8-meter) punts. An exciting
prospect -- if you can see around that eight-foot (2.4-meter) blimp
hovering over your coffee table.
---[
Copyright 1997 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
---[
* This story is also available through:
- The Lake Forest College website,
at
http://www.lfc.edu/physics/holography. (Just click on the above link,
then click on "Articles", and look for the "Sid Perkins" byline!)
- Yahoo! News at
http://biz.yahoo.com/upi/97/07/22/general_news/ushologram_1.html