New holograms provide a sense of depth

Prof Yael Hanein, of TAU’s School of Electrical Engineering and head of TAU’s Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and Prof Jacob Scheuer and Prof Amir Boag of the School of Electrical Engineering, led the development team. Their research, published in Nano Letters, uses the parameters of light itself to create dynamic and complex holographic images.

In order to effect a three-dimensional projection using existing technology, two-dimensional images must be replotted, whereby they are rotated and expanded to achieve three-dimension-like vision. The team’s nanoantenna technology is claimed to allow newly designed holograms to replicate the appearance of depth without being replotted. The applications for the technology are vast and diverse, said to the researchers, who have been approached by commercial entities interested in the technology.

‘We had this interesting idea - to play with the parameters of light, the phase of light,’ Yifat said in a statement. ‘If we could dynamically change the relation between light waves, we could create something that projected dynamically - like holographic television, for example. The applications for this are endless. If you take light and shine it on a specially engineered nanostructure, you can project it in any direction you want and in any form that you want. This leads to interesting results.’