Imaging system projects holograms in real time

’We can record a three-dimensional image in one location and show it in another location, in real time, anywhere in the world,’ said Nasser Peyghambarian, who led the research effort.

Holographic stereography has been capable of providing large-scale 3D static images with excellent resolution and depth reproduction, but has been missing the capability to be dynamically updated until now, according to the researchers.

’At the heart of the system is a screen made from a novel photorefractive material, capable of refreshing holograms every two seconds, making it the first to achieve a speed that can be described as quasi real time,’ said Pierre-Alexandre Blanche, an assistant research professor in the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences.

The prototype device uses a 10in screen, but Peyghambarian’s group is already successfully testing a much larger version with a 17in screen.

The image is recorded using an array of regular cameras, each of which views the object from a different perspective. That information is then encoded onto a fast-pulsed laser beam, which interferes with another beam that serves as a reference. The resulting interference pattern is written into the photorefractive polymer, creating and storing the image. Each laser pulse records an individual holographic pixel in the polymer.