Slashdot Mirror
Breakthrough in Holographic Displays
bendodge writes to mention the BBC is reporting that researchers at the University of Tucson, Arizona have created a polymer that allows holographic images to be created in minutes. Normally holographic images are created by mixing the results of multiple laser lights to lay down a static image, a lengthy and delicate process. "In a paper in Nature Mr Tay and colleagues describe their thin-film polymer that can have images 'written' to it in minutes and can be wiped as quickly to take and display another image. The material has been shown to stay stable throughout hundreds of write and erase cycles. The ability to quickly refresh images in holographs could mean that surgeons use them as a guide during operations or as a better way for pharmaceutical researchers to study molecular interactions for new drugs during simulations."
University of Arizona, in Tucson.
Hope they got the rest of it right.
Lemmings are silly; dinosaurs are extinct.
Help me, Obi-wan, you're my only hope
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Judging by the article illustration its primary use will be to create Hollywood-style zombies.
Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
From R(ing)TFA, it appears that this thin material allows taking of a holographic IMAGE quickly. It still would be incredible useful, as holographs can be viewed from multiple angles and are in 3 dimensions. A photograph that sticks out. Granted, most of the ones I have seen are pretty bad but in principle they could be useful. The medical application does sound handy : instead of flat 2d xrays, xray machines would be basically digital CT scanners that gather enough information to produce a 3d image from a specific angle. This digitally processed 3d model would then be used as the basis for forming a holograph, suitable for placement on the X-ray reading boards and having on a clip next to a surgeon during surgery.
BUT...it is by no means a 3d display. The best way to have full motion, high resolution 3d images is still using a head mounted display combined with a sensor for tracking head movement.
Ars has better coverage which talks more about the polymers used and how this is actually achieved. It also has a link to the paper published in Nature (although you can only get an abstract if you're like me and don't have a subscription).
:-)
I submitted this story, too. So knowing Slashdot, we might see a dupe
Pharmaceutical data, my ass. We're looking at "Playboy 3D" material here, and a reason to go back to print media for everyone's monkey-stroking needs!
blow your mind already
BBC's coverage is pretty lame. Slashdot would serve its readers better by linking to coverage at a science blog instead. For instance, Ars Technica's Nobel Intent science journal has a far superior writeup of the announcement.
It only takes minutes if you're making it on the re-writeable photorefractive polymers, of which this new one is an improvement.
If you're using plain old film to make a non-re-writeable hologram, then it takes about as long as it takes your film to expose.