As holography quietly matures, new techniques have the potential to transform displays, imaging, and microscopy.
FAROOQ AHMED, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
The 1971 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to the Hungarian-British electrical engineer Dennis Gabor for inventing the field of holography. It wasn’t until six years later, however, that the discipline would gain widespread recognition. In 1977, the movie “Star Wars” arrived in U.S. theaters, and the robot R2-D2 projected Princess Leia Organa saying the memorable words, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”
While Leia’s projection technically was not a hologram but a volumetric light-field display (a technique used to bring back to the stage deceased entertainers such as Elvis Presley and Tupac Shakur), three-dimensional holograms have been inextricably linked with a vision of the future. Current applications in holography are poised to usher it in.
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