Practical Holographic Video

[Karim]

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18572/

To create a holographic video, Bove says, software produces a real-time, three-dimensional model of the objects within a scene. So, for an MRI of a beating heart, the software uses a collection of numbers that describe the position of all points on the surface of the heart, in all three dimensions. With such a model in place, software calculates how lasers need to project the light to create a hologram. In essence, the software creates a blueprint for the lasers to follow that consists of the basis of all holograms: a diffraction pattern, which occurs when light waves interfere with one another.

The main application is for medical imagery, the images are limited to the size of a desktop monitor and they are only monochromatic (but multiple colours are already lined up). Apparently, current graphic cards are ideally suited for this technology which brings up the possibilities for a whole host of applications.

[Eaglesfan27]

Very cool stuff. I'm amazed at the advances diagnostic imaging/functional imaging has taken in the past 10-12 years and it is exciting to see where it will go in the next few decades.