Chapter 1 - Introduction to Holography

(Sample page excerpted from book.)

Introduction

You wake up in the morning and go out to breakfast. The restaurant is giving away hologram trading cards with each meal. You grab one for your son because you know he collects them. You finish your breakfast and head off to your job. Not paying close attention to the road at this early hour, you exceed the posted speed limit. The friendly Highway Patrol Officer who pulls you over takes your driver's license and examines it closely in the sunlight. He is looking for a hologram laminate that indicates your license is authentic.

At work, you open a new package of computer software. The box is sealed with a hologram label. On the way home from work you stop at the music store to buy a CD for your daughter. A 3D holographic portrait of her favorite group is on the CD's cover and, even more amazing, the band members appear to dance a bit as you tilt the box back and forth! You pick out a greeting card to go with the gift. It has colorful holographic foil decorating the front. Then you pay for your purchases with a credit card that has a hologram on it, too.

This scenario is an example of the frequency with which we see holograms in our everyday life. Unlike a decade ago, holographic images and holographic materials have entered the mainstream and are commonly used for a variety of commercial applications. This is partly due to the standardization of manufacturing methods and the inevitable maturation of the entire industry.

For holography beginners, the chapter includes a step-by-step explanation of how you can easily produce your own holograms. For more advanced practitioners, it concludes with a look at one of the techniques involved in producing color reflection holograms.

More important is the fact that the clients who commission holographic originations are achieving the results they desire.

Holography has proven that it is a viable technology that can be successfully integrated into a wide range of commercial endeavors including advertising campaigns, marketing promotions, security programs and retail sales. The medium has established a track record of deterring counterfeiters, attracting shoppers, and adding value to products. As the technology evolves further and potential users become more informed about the holography marketplace, a host of other applications will certainly arise.

Holography compared to Photography
Although often compared with photography, holography is really a completely different medium. Holography is based on different optical principles than photography and holograms have different physical attributes than photographs. They are the comparable only because they both are ways of recording an image onto a piece of photosensitive material (film), and, at times, similar equipment and materials are used in making both items.

The most apparent difference between a photograph and a hologram is image dimension and image depth. For instance, when we look at a photograph and move it from side to side we are unable to see "around" the scene or perceive any depth. We only see a flat (two dimensional) picture displayed on the surface of the film. This picture is actually a collection of light and dark shapes that we recognize as a particular subject. Our memory might remind us that the...