1

History of Holography
Invented in 1948 by Dennis Gabor for use
in electron microscopy, before the
invention of the laser
Leith and Upatnieks (1962) applied laser
light to holography and introduced an
important off-axis technique
Holography:
Do you see what I see?
Shawn Kennedy
Word Origin
Hologram is from the Greek word holos,
meaning whole and gramma meaning
message.
Hologram History
Theory Developed in 1947 by British/Hungarian
scientist Dennis Gabor
Developed because he was trying to improve
the resolution of electron microscopes
Development in this field was stifled during the
1950s because light sources were not coherent
Coherent Light and a Solution
Coherent light is light that is
monochromatic and of a single wavelength
In 1960, the invention of the laser
overcame the non-coherent light problem

History Continued
In 1962 Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks
realized that holography could be used as
a 3-D visual medium
From their work, they used a laser to
create the first hologram in history, that of
a toy train and bird
This type of hologram required laser light
to be viewed, though.
White Light and High Speed
Objects
In 1962 Dr. Uri Denisyuk of the former
U.S.S.R. developed a white light reflection
hologram, which could be viewed in light
from a normal incandescent bulb.
In 1960, with the invention of the pulsed-
ruby laser, holograms of high speed
objects was made possible
Pulsed-Laser Holography
Laser system emits a very powerful burst
of light that lasts only a few nanoseconds,
which effectively freezes movement
Enables a hologram to be made of a
human
The first hologram of a person was made
in 1967
How Holograms are Made
Need a laser, lenses, mirror, photographic
film, and an object
The laser light is separated into two
beams, reference beam and object beam
Reference beam enlarged and aimed at a
piece of holographic film
Making Holograms
Object beam directed at subject to be
recorded and expanded to illuminate
subject
Object beam reflects off of object and
meets reference beam at film
Produces interference pattern which is
recorded
Making Holograms Cont.
Film is developed
Hologram illuminated at same angle as
reference beam during original exposure
to reveal holographic image
Applications of Holography
Design of containers
to hold nuclear
materials
Credit cards carry
monetary value
Supermarket
scanners
Optical Computers
Improve design of
aircraft wings and
turbine blades
Used in aircraft
heads-up display
Art
Archival Recording of
fragile museum
artifacts
Holography in the Future
Medical Purposes
Gaming Systems
Personal Defense
Computers
Artwork
Amusement Park Rides
Holography goes Hollywood
Holodeck from Star Trek Holodeck Clip
Star Wars Chess Game
Body Double in Total Recall
The Wizard in Wizard of Oz
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Conventional vs. Holographic
photography
Hologram:
Converts phase information into amplitude
information (in-phase - maximum amplitude, out-of-
phase minimum amplitude)
Interfere wavefront of light from a scene with a
reference wave
The hologram is a complex interference pattern of
microscopically spaced fringes
holos Greek for whole message

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Hologram of a point source
Construction of the hologram of a point source
Any object can be represented as a collection of points
Reference wave -
plane
Photosensitive plate
1. Records
interference
pattern (linear
response)
2. Emulsion has
small grain
structure (s)

Object wave - spherical
Photographic plate
x
z
y
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Point object hologram construction:
Intensity distribution on plate
Reference wave

Object wave


Intensity distribution on plate
R O OR RR OO R O y x I
z y x r where
oe e z y x o z y x O
re e z y x r z y x R
ikr z y x i
ikz z y x i
* * * *
2
2 2 2
) , , (
) , , (
) , (
) , , ( ) , , (
) , , ( ) , , (
+ + + = + =
+ + =
= =
= =
|

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Hologram construction
) cos( 2 ) , (
0
) cos( 2 ) , , (
2 2
2 2
kr or o r y x I
plane f ilm z
or o r z y x I
+ + =
=
+ + = |
Maxima for kr=2mt or r=m
i.e. if the OPL difference OZ OP is an integral number of wavelengths, the
reference beam arrives at P in step with the scattered (i.e. object) beam.
Gabor zone plate
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Hologram
When developed the photographic plate will have
a transmittance which depends on the intensity
distribution in the recorded plate


t
b
backgrond transmittance due to |R|
2
term
B parameter which is a function of the
recording an developing process
) (
* *
2
OR R O O B t t
b
+ + + =
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Hologram reconstruction
When illuminated by a coherent wave, A(x,y), known as
the reconstruction wave, the optical field emerging from
the transparency is,


i.e. a superposition of 4 waves

If A(x,y)=R(x,y), i.e. reconstruction and reference waves
are identical,

O R B O BR R BOO t t y x R
A BOR RA BO A BOO A t t y x A
b p
b p
2
* 2 *
* * *
) ( ) , (
) , (
+ + + =
+ + + =
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Hologram reconstruction
Three terms in the reconstructed wave
O R B O BR R BOO t t y x R
b p
2
* 2 *
) ( ) , ( + + + =
Direct wave
identical to
reference wave
except for an
overall change in
amplitude
Object wave
identical to object
wave except for a
change in intensity
Conjugate wave
complex
conjugate of
object wave
displaced by a
phase angle 2
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Hologram reconstruction
Three terms in the reconstructed wave of
the point hologram
ikr ikr kz i ikz
b p
e r B e Be e o B t t y x R
2
2
2
) ( ) , ( + + + =

Direct wave
identical to
reference wave
(propagates
along z) except
for an overall
change in
amplitude
Object wave
Spherical wave
except for a
change in intensity
B|r|
2
i.e. reconstructed wavefront

Conjugate wave
spherical wave
collapsing to a point
at a distance z to the
right of the hologram
-a real image
- displaced by a
phase angle 2kz
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Hologram :
Direct, object and conjugate waves
Direct wave: corresponds to zeroth order grating
diffraction pattern
Object wave: gives virtual image of the object
(reconstructs object wavefront) first order
diffraction
Conjugate wave: conjugate point, real image
(not useful since image is inside-out due to
negative phase angle) first order diffraction
In general, we wish to view only the object wave
the other waves just confuse the issue
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Off-axis- Direct, object and conjugate waves
Virtual image
Real image
Direct wave
Object
wave
Conjugate
wave
Reference wave
Use an off-axis system to record the hologram, ensuring separation of the three waves on reconstruction
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Transmission hologram: reference and object waves
traverse the film from the same side
Reflection hologram: reference and object waves
traverse the emulsion from opposite sides
Hologram Reflection vs. Transmission
View in Transmission View in reflection
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Hologram: Some Applications
Microscopy M =
r
/
s
Increase magnification by viewing hologram with longer
wavelength
Produce hologram with x-ray laser, when viewed with visible
light M ~ 10
6

3-d images of microscopic objects DNA, viruses
Interferometry
Small changes in OPL can be measured by viewing the direct
image of the object and the holographic image (interference
pattern produce finges l)
E.g. stress points, wings of fruit fly in motion, compression waves
around a speeding bullet, convection currents around a hot
filament