Foreword
Welcome to the 7th Edition of the Holography MarketPlace. This edition includes new information that will interest professionals who work within the holography industry, as well as those in other fields that need to know more about holograms and their applications. HMP 7 also provides basic knowledge that will appeal to the curious businessperson, student or casual reader. We hope you enjoy reading this edition and find it a very useful resource.
New Articles: Potential users of display holograms will benefit by reading John Perry’s article in the Introduction to Holography chapter, which clears up some common misconceptions about the medium. For hologram designers and production managers, we have added a discussion of dot matrix technology to the Artwork & Mastering chapter, as this is becoming a very popular way of producing imagery for embossed holograms. "Recombining" is another hot topic which we’ve addressed in this chapter. Both novices and experts should appreciate an article by Hans Bjelkhagen in Chapter Three, Color Holography, as it summarizes developments in full color reflection holography.
For many holographers, the most important issue of the year is the changes taking place in the field of silver-halide emulsions. Agfa-Gevaert, formerly the industry’s leading supplier of holographic plates and films, has ceased production. Chapter Four, Silver-Halide Recording Materials, introduces the leading new suppliers to the industry and provides detailed product specifications. Experienced holographers T.H. Jeong, Jeffrey Murray and Chuck Paxton review these materials and offer useful processing tips. Since some of the newer emulsions require relatively slow exposure times, we have included an article in Chapter Six, Optics and Equipment, about Jeff Odhner’s "fringe-locker system" which can alleviate some potential problems faced by holographers using these new emulsions.
Photopolymer, DCG, photoresist and photo-thermoplastic films are covered in Chapter Five, Other Recording Materials. Chapter Eight, Lasers – Current Trends, describes the newest lasers available to the holography industry. Of special mention are articles by David Ratcliffe and Ron Olson regarding their respective pulsed laser systems.
International Business Directory: Our database begins with an alphabetical listing of holography-related businesses (it includes updated company contact information and a brief description of the goods and services the company offers.) Use the accompanying lists and the cross-index tables to quickly find the businesses and people you are interested in. Please note that many phone numbers, emails and website addresses have changed since our last edition.
Holograms: Once again, we are proud to include a wonderful and useful "sample kit" of holograms that represents the state of the industry today. No other book offers this feature. When you contact our advertisers, please let them know you appreciate seeing actual samples of their work.
Thanks to everyone that assisted with this edition.
Berkeley, CA - Winter 1998