Holography in Schools?

[johnfp]

I didn't know exactly where to put this so I figured it safe to place here.

 

I was wondering if any schools or universities were practicing holography and if so what type of hologram were you making and on which type of film.

 

Thanks,

John

[Jay-qu]

No idea what type or what type of film but I can tell you that here at my university we can do a 3rd year physics experiment that develops holograms of objects. Ive seen it done, its very cool :)

[johnfp]

Did you partake or just see the final product?

[sanctus]

At our university it was also a possible random choice of practical laboratory in the second year (or third?); the 10 different laboratories out of the 30 you had to do were given randomly. I was one of the people who didn't get the holography one (luckily because it gave more work than the others or so friends told me), so I can't say what material was used and if there is more than students' laboratory research done at my university...

[CraigD]

At my high school, in the 1970s, I did a bit of holograph making as an extra-curricular activity, using a kit from Edmunds Scientific. Edmunds was, AFAICT a much better source for the science hobbyist then than it is now ;). I bought nearly all the glass blanks, abrasives, pitch, and hardware for a hand-made 6” reflector I made in HS there.

 

In college, one of the professors at a neighboring university was very interested in holography, and ran an “open lab” on weekends. It wasn’t hands on, but a small seated audience watching the activities, followed by a short lecture and Q & A.

 

When last I left the subject, making holograms of recognizable objects required a lot of specialized gear outside of the grasp of most hobbyists, such as air-ride vibration isolation tables and then-expensive lasers. Johnfp, I gather, has put together his own private collection of this gear, and impressive feat. :evil:

 

In a quick search to confirm that Edmunds no longer carries the holograph kit I remember from my youth, I found “Shoebox Holography”, a 128-page book that explains how to make holographs using inexpensive laser pointers. John, I’m curious to know your opinion of this book – do you have it? have you seen/read it? do you think a person could learn much using only a shoebox size kit?

 

In the early 1990s, I recall a lot of commercial interest in holography. A major company, Atari, I recall, made an arcade game in which you peered into a dark enclosure at a small moving image, which could be controlled, Dragon’s Lair fashion, in a sort of video game. Neither I nor anybody of my acquaintance could make much sense of the game. The “holy grail” of these activities were computer-driven “electro-holography -- capable of producing realistic 3-D holographic images in real time”. The best reference to this activity I know is The Holovideo Page by Mark Lucente.

 

One of a long lines of incorrect predictions, I forecast in the early 1990s that by the turn of the century, most consumer display devices (ie: TVs) would be capable of rendering holographs via technology derived from the above early research. To my surprise, even 8 years into the new millennium, this isn’t the case. The reason, I suspect, is less technical than economic – despite what seems to me the obvious appeal of real, full-wavefront 3-D images, which that can be examined from many angles, the market simply hasn’t demanded or responded positively to early offerings of such things. Even a what-seems-to-me highly feasible device like picture frames with concealed illumination lasers for a high-quality, multi-color photographic holograph (vs. the unimpressive white-light illuminated holographs common on credit cards and cereal box prizes) don’t appear in any marketplace of which I’m aware, even though I can imagine mall kiosks doing a good business with them. Markets are difficult to predict.

[johnfp]

John, I’m curious to know your opinion of this book – do you have it? have you seen/read it? do you think a person could learn much using only a shoebox size kit?

 

Hey CraigD, I have not Read the book but know Frank DeFreitas, the author, quite well. Here is his web site. Holoworld He is a great guy and would help with his book in any way possible, I am sure. His methods have been proven to work. He has tested many laser pointers and I am sure his book points out the best ones to use. Now remind you this is just the book and the pointer, film, etc. would have to be purchased seperately. I think he has a small kit that includes the pointer as well as some other stuff.

 

I suggest starting with plates and not film for the beginner to elliminate the movement of the film variable. You have to sandwich film in between glass in insure it does not move 1/4 wavelength for the duration of your exposure. Definetly better to use glass plate emulsion.

 

Can someone learn from the his book? I would say yes, at the very least you would learn how to make a Single Beam Reflection hologram. One that is viewable in white light. You would also learn the best and cheapest pointer to go with. I don't think his book gets into the physics of making a hologram but is probably easy to read and understand and geared toward common folk as the audience.

 

There is also a great forum for assisting the begginer or even the advanced holographers. HolographyForum I too offer my assistance freely.

 

As far as display hologaphy, lighting seems to be the main set back. How many want to install on overhead spot light in their house to hang up a picture? Well, there are a few nuts like me that do, but it's not too many.

 

My laser is of University grade. It is a 5watt Argon Ion, 3 phase, water cooled laser with intra cavity elaton. It's stokes. But I am in a third world basment. I don't to much display. I like to play with the 10,000 variables in making a hologram in Dichomated Gelatin. My lastest is getting multiple colors in the hologram.

[Jay-qu]

I only watched, but I have until the end of the semester to choose to take the experiment :eek:

[johnfp]

If you need any help whatsoever, let me know. You can e-mail me also at holograms3d at yahoo dot com.