324

Lasers

Hologram

Fig.12.27
Schematic representation of taking
a

hologram.

Mirror

plate, we have our 'picture'. ',vhich bears no resemblance to thc object at all. Horvever, when the hologram is illuminated bv a laser (Fig. 12.28) the original object will dutifully spring into life. The reconstructed rvave forms appear to diverge from an image of the object. Moving the eye from A to B means viewing the object from a different angle, and it looks different indeed just as in realiry. So the picture we obtain is as good as the object itself. if not better. For examining small biological specimens, for example, the picture may be better than the original because the original will not sit motionless under the microscope. A hologram can be investigated at leisure without losing anv of the details, and one can actually focus the microscope to various depths in the three-dimensional picture. A variation on the same theme offering some advantages is volume holography, to which we shall return in more detail in Section 13.5. It uses a certain volume in a photosensitive medium, in which a three-dimensional interference pattern is recorded in the form ofrefractive index variation. one of the advantages of volume holograms is that the holographic reproducrion is strongly wavelength dependent-it is the Bragg effect again, contributions must be added in the correct phase. Hence, the image may be viewed in white light, with the hologram selecting the wavelength it can respond to from the broad spectrum available. The Bragg efrect is ofcourse strongly dependent on incident angle as well. The wavelength and angular dependence together make it possible to record multiple holograms in the same material. What about holographic movies? Could one arrange conferences at which only the holographic images of the participants talk and walk in the