Now 6D holograms that interact with light

Indian origin scientist has claimed to have found success in creating six dimensional images that respond to changes in light and the viewer’s direction by utilizing basic technology used in cheap 3D postcards and novelty items.

The researcher says that the response of the six-dimensional holograms to light could be better understood by visualizing what would happen if a flashlight is shone on a real flower and a holographic one simultaneously.

While the display is still pretty small, seven by seven pixels, the researchers hope that within the next two to three years they could scale it up to create some of the most realistic images available.

“We are the first ones to build a display that changes with lighting,” says Associate Professor Ramesh Raskar, a scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who helped to develop the technology. “We’ve finally found a way to build the most realistic display.”

The idea is similar to the technology used on stiff, cheap plastic postcards, the kind when rotated causes an image to move or make it 3D.

These postcards use a series of raised parallel lines to create tiny lenses that project different images at either vertical or horizontal angles. The effect can make an image of a car appear like it’s moving down a road or a hand appear like it’s waving as you tilt the card one way and then another.

Instead of using parallel lines to create the image, the researchers used squares to create lenses that present different images at both vertical and horizontal angles simultaneously.

- ABC

Kate Moss’ Hologram

I came across a fantastic video of supermodel Kate Moss being projected as a life-size hologram at the showcase of Alexander McQueen collection at the 2006 Ready-to-Wear fashion show in Paris.

Of course, it is an old video but the sheer beauty of how the holographic image has been presented is breathtaking! I am confident that the live audience that witnessed the phenomenon must have been mesmerized.

What do you say, guys?

Hologram packs for UK cigarette brand

Imperial Tobacco has developed a special edition holographic pack of Lambert & Butler to mark the cigarette marque’s 10 years as the UK’s biggest FMCG brand.

Iain Watkins, trade communications manager at Imperial Tobacco, said: “To stay at the number one spot for ten years is no mean feat and to mark this achievement we have launched special edition holographic packs.

“It is also the first time a registered hologram has been used on a tobacco product, setting a new standard for product packaging.”

It is not clear if the move is made to discourage counterfeiting of the cigarette packs of Lambert & Butler that must be hurting the manufacturer’s business or just a publicity stunt!

Queen Elizabeth’s new Hologram images

After Prince Charles’ holograms, it is time once again for UK’s Queen Elizabeth to grace the world with her holographic images!

The artist who created a hologram portrait of the Queen four years ago is to demonstrate previously unseen 3D and light-based images of the Queen in a London show.

Chris Levine’s images, worth £1m collectively, show the Queen in various off-guard moments.

Must be a treat for the Queen’s loyalists!

Rewritable Holographic Display

Researchers claim to have developed rewritable holographic displays!

The iconic image of three-dimensional holography—Princess Leia inserting Death Star blueprints into R2-D2 and intoning, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope”—may be just a few years away from reality, says a researcher who has developed a method to write, erase, and rewrite holographic images.

Holographic motion, as featured in Star Wars, has long been confined to the realm of science fiction. But now, according to Nasser Peyghambarian, a professor of optical sciences at the University of Arizona, “we can see we are pretty close to that.”

Peyghambarian and his colleagues at Arizona have found a way to create holograms that can persist for hours but can also be erased and written over. The group worked with researchers from Nitto Denko Technical Corp., in Oceanside, Calif., the research arm of a Japanese company that makes semiconductor and optical products.

Conventional holograms are written using a laser beam split into two out-of-phase beams. One beam bounces off the object being imaged before it recombines with the other beam to create an interference pattern. When that pattern strikes the holographic medium—usually a photosensitive polymer—the material undergoes chemical changes that alter its index of refraction. If you shine a light on the finished hologram, the refraction pattern recreates a 3-D image of the original object. But because the chemical change is nonreversible, these standard materials can be written on only once.

- IEEE 

Moisture Sensitive Holograms

Researchers in Ireland have developed a unique solution to determine the air’s moisture content quickly and accurately through innovative use of holographic technology.

These researchers at the Dublin Institute of Technology have successfully fabricated a hologram that quickly changes its color in response to even slight fluctuations in humidity and is able to return to its original color once the moisture in the atmosphere dissipates!

The material used to create this innovative hologram is a self-processing acrylamide-based photopolymer on a glass substrate.

Smart Hologram – Better Health Care

Another landmark in the health care and hologram sectors! Scientists have developed smart holograms to help patients self diagnose!

Patients with diabetes, cardiac problems, kidney disorders or high blood pressure could benefit from the development of new hologram technology. The new “smart” holograms, which can detect changes in, for example, blood-glucose levels, should make self-diagnosis much simpler, cheaper and more reliable, write Chris Lowe and Cynthia Larbey in February’s Physics World.

A hologram is a recording of an optical interference pattern created when laser light shone on an object is made to overlap with a separate beam of light that does not pass through the object. When light is shone onto the interference pattern, a 3D image of the original object is recreated.

Traditional holograms, like those on your credit card, are stored on photo-sensitive materials and remain unchanged with time. Smart holograms, however, use materials called hydrogels that shrink or swell in response to local environmental conditions. Such holograms can therefore be used as sensors to detect chemical imbalances in potentially fatal situations.

Smart Holograms, a spin-out company from the Institute of Biotechnology at Cambridge University, has already developed a hand-held syringe to measure water content in aviation fuel tanks — necessary because aeroplane engines are liable to freeze mid-air if there is more than 30 parts water to million fuel.

- Science Daily 

I must say that the new hologram technology will be a boon to many struggling with ailments. Kudos to the team who developed the smart hologram. Hope that smart hologram will be available in the markets soon.

Holographic Water Horse

This is one of the best demonstrations of holographic technology as an effective advertising tool! Sony Pictures have created this out-of-the-world hologram to advertise their upcoming film ‘The Water Horse’, to project the Nessie image over a very fine mist being sprayed in the air. The effect is extraordinary.

Just imagine the hysteria amongst the crowds to see a monster come alive in front of their eyes through the intelligent use of holography!

Holograms with new microscopic lettering

Dai Nippon Printing Co. of Tokyo, Japan will market a new hologram label that combines 3-D computer graphic images with microscopic lettering.

Branded products use hologram labels to prove their authenticity, but in recent years the technology of forgery has advanced so far that it is difficult to distinguish real hologram labels from bogus hologram labels just by looking at the 3-D CG image.

To help people identify real labels, Dai Nippon Printing will incorporate the word GENUINE in microscopic lettering into the hologram. The letters are drawn with a line width of only 50 microns and are technically difficult to print, but readily viewable using a magnifying glass.

Dai Nippon Printing will charge 5 yen apiece for orders of 2 million labels and hopes to generate revenue of 3 billion yen (US$28 million) with this business during the next three years.

Fake Euro alert in Cyprus

Cyprus Police Department is in contact with Europol, as part of efforts to infiltrate a gang bringing forged euros and fake credit cards into Cyprus.

The general public has been alerted to be on the lookout for fake euros, with 24 cases of counterfeit currency notes having been reported to the police since the introduction of the currency to Cyprus.

The European Central Bank has emphasized that various security features have been incorporated into the euro notes that will help in recognizing a genuine banknote from a counterfeit eoru note. These features include:

• The raised print. Special printing processes give banknotes their unique feel. The ink should feel raised or thicker in the main image, the lettering and the value numerals on the front of the banknotes.
• Additional tactile marks for the visually impaired are included on the bottom edge of the €200 banknote and on the right-hand edge of the €500. The paper consists of pure cotton, which feels crisp and firm (not limp or waxy).
• When a banknote is held up against light: the watermark, the security thread and the see-through number will then be visible. All three features can be seen from the front and back of genuine banknotes.
• The security thread is embedded in the banknote paper. Holding the banknote against the light shows the thread as a dark stripe. The word ‘EURO’ and the value can be seen in tiny letters on the stripe. In the hologram one can see perforations which form the € symbol. One can also see small numbers showing the value.
• When the banknote is tilted, on the front one can see the shifting image on the hologram. On the back, one can see the glossy stripe (on the €5, €10 and €20 banknotes) or the colour-changing number (on the €50, €100, €200 and €500 banknotes), from purple to olive green or brown.

According to the ECB in the second half of 2007 a total of 296,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation.