Through recent development done by Japanese researchers, holograms have become a touch more interesting by the addition of actual touch. A 3D hologram projector has been made that will make its images palpable and perhaps even interactive.
3D technology has been around for many years, but this is said to bring a more practical use and revolutionize the way we see holograms. A Japanese company called Aerial Burton has found a way of ionizing air molecules in mid air, creating a display of bright pixels that seem to float. It has been pending as a project for quite a while before creating plasma voxels using femtosecond lasers in order to prevent burning the skin when it comes into contact.
The damaging effects have been holding such a technology from hitting the market, deemed as too dangerous for the public to interact with. However, a system has been developed by firing laser pulses at higher frequencies, thus leading to a formation of pixels that will not only be harmless, but also respond to touch. The interrupted pulses and reduction of the duration of laser bursts to higher resolution femtoseconds makes it safe to touch and painless.
How it works is that the researchers fire the femtosecond laser through a spatial light modulator and a Galvano scanner. The beam itself is split into two and is directed at the object and the recording medium with the use of mirrors. The light’s brightness increases when touched, an effect which could be used in several ways. It can change the way we view holograms by adding the element of interaction and responsive 3D images.
The so called “Fairy Lights” are dubbed as the more practical alternative when compared to the other solutions offered. It does not require wires or other structures for the image to be emitted into the air. Previous experiments have displayed the flaw of using lasers pulsing at a nanosecond and the high amount of energy it contained brought the risk of being burnt, be it from a simple touch or even walking through it.
The Japanese scientists promise quite an unique experience when interacting with their femtosecond laser beams and have published a short video to showcase their results. It truly looks like the interaction with 3D images will be possible in the near future and researchers make it a point to mention that it can be enlarged to much bigger scales, depending its use.
Image source: iflscience.com
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