We are already accustomed to plasma panels and LCD screens in Everyday life. No one is surprised by such display technology as 3D, which has appeared in recent years. The technology for creating stereoscopic images using special 3D glasses has successfully occupied its niche and is actively developing. Many experts believe that further development of display technology, or rather a real revolution in this segment, will occur with the release of holographic screens. After all, in fact, modern 3D television is an intermediate stage on the path to creating a real three-dimensional image, since such screens look three-dimensional only at a certain position of the head. Holographic displays in this regard can be considered as a further development of 3D technology.
The basic principle of 3D technology used in modern TV or cinemas is to trick a person's eyes into perceiving a three-dimensional picture by presenting slightly different images to each eye. This optical focus is used everywhere in the currently popular 3D solutions. For example, the illusion of volume and depth in a picture is created using polarized glasses that filter part of the image for the right and left eyes.
But this technology has a significant drawback - the three-dimensional image is visible to the viewer only from a strictly defined angle. Today, glasses-free home 3D TVs have already become widely available. But even when watching such a TV, the viewer must be exactly in front of the screen. It is enough to move a little to the right or left relative to the center of the screen, and the three-dimensional picture begins to disappear. This drawback of modern 3D screens will have to be solved in the near future by so-called holographic displays.
We all remember scenes from famous Hollywood films like “Star Wars”, where three-dimensional images appear in the form of holograms and literally hang in the air. A hologram is, in principle, a special type of three-dimensional projected image that can be created using laser light or other sources. It is believed that in the near future this technology will step into our everyday lives. True, the release of holographic TVs is still very far away. From time to time, interesting prototypes of devices with pseudo-holographic or advanced stereoscopic displays appear, which arouse great interest among the public. But there are no full-fledged holographic screens available for sale yet.
For example, so-called pseudo-holographic screens based on the use of a special translucent film or mesh have already found widespread use today. Such panels are simply suspended from the ceiling, or fixed to the glass of a retail display case. Under special lighting conditions, the translucent panel becomes invisible to humans. And if an image is projected onto it, then it creates the impression of a picture reigning in the air - that same hologram. The image is projected onto a translucent panel using a projector. The panel allows the viewer to look through the picture. Such pseudo-holographic displays have a number of advantages over plasma or LCD screens due to their originality, rich images in almost any lighting conditions and the ability to be placed anywhere.
The projector itself, which projects the image, can remain out of view of the viewer. The undoubted advantages of such solutions also include good viewing angles (close to 180 degrees), high image contrast and the ability to create holographic screens of a large size or a certain geometric shape. Naturally, displays on translucent film are used primarily to give rooms a certain charm and unusual effect, to decorate retail spaces and television studios. Transparent panel solutions are being developed by many companies and are primarily used for marketing and advertising purposes to impress consumers.
ist. visionoptics.de In particular, film-based Sax3D screens have become widespread. This German company uses a selective light refraction system, which makes it possible to ignore any light in the room except the beam of the projector. The main part of the screen itself is durable glass, completely transparent. It is on this that a special film is applied, thanks to which the screen turns into a kind of hologram and displays a contrasting image projected by the projector. You can view both videos and digital photographs on such a pseudo holographic screen. Transscreen screens work on approximately the same principle, based on the use of polyester film with special layers that can block the light coming from the projector.
But we, of course, are primarily interested in solutions that can be used in TVs, tablet computers and smartphones. And it should be noted that in recent years more and more interesting devices have appeared in this area, although most of them actually use the same notorious 3D effect, only somewhat supplemented and improved.
At CES 2011, InnoVision Labs showed the public a prototype of the TV of the future - a TV with a holographic screen. The development is called HoloAd Diamond. It is a prism that can refract light coming from several projectors, which creates a full-fledged hologram that the viewer can view from any angle. Moreover, journalists and ordinary visitors to the exhibition were convinced that the hologram created by HoloAd Diamond looks better in comparison with three-dimensional images on 3D devices. The images on the holographic screen are distinguished by their depth and rich colors.
This projector-TV can reproduce not only photographs and pictures in a hologram, but also videos, although so far only in FLV format. At the exhibition, two models of televisions based on the same principle were demonstrated. The first supports a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels and weighs 95 kilograms, while the second TV is more compact, but has a resolution of only 640 x 480 pixels. The devices are quite bulky, but they are convenient to use. The older version of the holographic screen can be purchased for ten thousand dollars.
Researchers from HP's Palo Alto laboratory in California tried to solve the age-old problem of 3D screens in their own way. To reproduce a three-dimensional image that would be visible regardless of the viewing angle, the researchers proposed showing images of objects from different angles, simultaneously sending a different image to each eye. This is usually achieved by using the whole system with rotating mirrors and laser devices. But Californian scientists took the components of a standard LCD panel and applied a huge number of circular grooves to the inner glass of the screen in a special way. As a result, the light is refracted in a way that allows the viewer to see a three-dimensional hologram. In any case, the screen created by HP researchers allows a person to see a static three-dimensional image from two hundred different points, and a dynamic 3D picture from sixty-four. True, the scientists themselves note that the creation of a full-fledged moving hologram, which we see in the movies, is still a long way off.
Microsoft Research, which developed the Vermeer display, also offers an interesting solution. This screen creates a holographic image “floating” right in the air in the spirit of the legendary “Star Wars”. It uses an optical illusion effect called “mirascope”. Structurally, Vermeer consists of two parabolic mirrors and a projector with a special optical system capable of reproducing up to three thousand images per second. The projector projects a hologram of one hundred and ninety-two dots at a frequency of 15 frames per second.
The most important thing is that the view of the three-dimensional image is available from any angle (360 degrees). Moreover, the user can successfully interact with this kind of hologram, since access to it is not blocked by any glass panel. That is, she can respond to touch. For this purpose, the device is equipped with infrared illumination and a camera, the main purpose of which is to track the movements of a person’s hands.
The Vermeer display has not yet been put into commercial production, but it is clear that it does have serious prospects, for example, in the gaming industry. This innovative device appeared in 2011, and a year later Apple patented its own display, which in many respects resembles the same Vermeer. It is an interactive screen that can display 3D holograms and allow the user to interact with them.
The same pair of parabolic mirrors is used here. But there is also a difference. To project a three-dimensional image, Apple engineers propose using not a real object, but a substance with a photorefractive effect. The infrared radiation incident on it passes into the visible spectrum, forming a primary three-dimensional image. The device, created by Apple engineers, supports gesture control thanks to a built-in sensor system.
And this year a long-awaited event took place - the world's first smartphone with a holographic display was presented. In any case, this is what its manufacturer claims. The Takee phone was developed by Chinese research and development company Shenzhen Estar Technology. But the development is actually very similar to the Amazon Fire Phone model, released earlier and offering the ability to adapt the image on the screen depending on the user’s viewing angle. However, according to the manufacturer, they went a little further with their smartphone. It uses eye tracking sensors located above the screen. A stereoscopic image is created using the projection of external sensors directly onto the retina of the viewer’s eyes, while the latter can turn his gaze away from the screen and still see a three-dimensional image.
Thus, the Takee smartphone screen makes it possible not only to see a three-dimensional image, but also to view it from different angles. To be fair, it should be noted that the Chinese development is just ordinary 3D technology, supplemented with eye tracking sensors. The display supports a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. In addition to the screen, the innovative smartphone has the following characteristics - MediaTek 6592T processor, two gigabytes random access memory and a 13-megapixel Sony Exmor RS camera. The device runs Android OS. Several smartphone applications are already available that allow you to play 3D games.
It is obvious that that longevity is approaching this moment, when we will be able to see TVs, tablets and monitors that create a full-fledged holographic image. In addition, in the near future, holographic screen technology may find application in navigation systems, business industry and education. Also, holographic images simply cannot pass by the field of gaming entertainment, providing the creation of three-dimensional, virtual worlds with unusually realistic images.
Revolution is the main word of the electronics industry. Expecting revolution from every new invention, new technology or a new released model is so normal for this market that all progress here is perceived as a series of leaps into the unknown. And indeed: electronics have always developed very dynamically; dynamic like no other field of technology. However, if you look at the line of its progress more impartially, it turns out that not so many events have the right to bear the title of revolutionary changes.
Future Displays 2: Review of the Best Holographic and Flexible Screens
If we take the topic of our material - displays - as a specific example, then only the appearance of a color image instead of a monochrome one and the transition from cathode ray tubes to matrices of liquid crystal elements really claim to be revolutionary. Everything else, such as an increase in resolution, an improvement in color rendering, a decrease in the size of the display while increasing its area - these are simply important milestones.
At the current pace of progress, the creation of the eye-Phone is much less than a thousand years away.
What can be considered the most promising today in terms of fundamental changes? In our opinion, breakthroughs can be expected from three experimental areas: stereoscopic displays, displays on flexible matrices and translucent displays. We will tell you about each of the groups of these developments...
The most voluminous 3D
The most obvious path to the next technical revolution for displays today is stereoscopy, which has received the marketing name “3D”. Some time ago, the technology for creating stereoscopic images based on the polarization of light was actively promoted on the market. We have written many times about televisions and monitors equipped with it, talking in detail about the foundation of this technology in the form of human binocular vision, the design of shutter glasses, the structure of the screen and algorithms for generating 3D.
Currently, “polarizing” stereoscopy has occupied its niche in the market, the volume of which, as well as the general influence of the technology on the further development of display production, does not allow us to talk about a revolutionary breakthrough.
This is what commercial mass stereo vision looks like now
Technologies for creating a stereoscopic image without glasses look more promising today. They can be briefly divided into those that use refractive microlenses located on the display screen, and those that use a system for tracking the viewer’s position using recording sensors (video cameras). Their great technical complexity and a certain degree of experimentation currently do not allow us to make long-term forecasts regarding their fate. However, let’s try here to doubt their true revolutionary nature, which can change the design of future displays beyond recognition.
The fact is that both glasses and glasses-free stereo vision technologies involve creating the illusion of volume on a flat screen. We assume that a model that somehow demonstrates a true three-dimensional image will be able to make a 3D revolution among displays. Technologies that can solve the issue of stereo imaging in this way already exist. The most promising of them are holographic and volumetric displays.
The main obstacle to development
Let's start the review with the best that is already on the market. In our opinion, these are displays of the HoloVisio brand produced by the Hungarian company Holografika. The company has been studying and developing three-dimensional imaging technologies since 1996. In 2008, the first HoloVisio displays appeared. At the moment, the first HoloVisio displays have already been discontinued, and their place has been taken by second and third generation models. The essence of the Holografika technology is the projection of an image by two dozen narrowly directed projectors, due to which the image is laid out in the display space as if in depth. Such a complex method of visualization is expensive, literally and figuratively: on a 72-inch screen, the frontal plane of which has a resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels, there are actually 73 million voxel elements. The cost of the display itself reaches 500 thousand dollars. Of course, there is no need to talk about the immediate mass use of this miracle in households in Europe and America.
However, it is not only the price, but the complexity of the design itself that is stopping the mass adoption of displays like HoloVisio. This complexity has a significant side property in the form of complexity software in particular, and the reproduction of holographic content in general. That's why scientists continue to look for simpler, cheaper, and smarter solutions. arranged ways recreating a three-dimensional image.
Presentation of the company Holografika
An association of three groups of Japanese scientists and engineers has been working for seven years on the creation of laser projection equipment for creating three-dimensional images. We're talking about Aerial 3D technology, created by Burton Inc, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and Keio University. A practical demonstration of the Aerial 3D projector took place in November 2011 as part of the CES 2011 exhibition. Japanese developers abandoned the traditional flat screen, drawing objects directly in the three-dimensional environment of ordinary space using laser beams.
Japanese version of the holographic screenless display
Aerial 3D technology uses the effect of exciting oxygen and nitrogen atoms with focused laser beams. At the moment, the installation is capable of projecting objects consisting of 50,000 elements (points) with a frequency of 10-15 “frames” per second. In the future, the developers plan to increase the speed to 20-25 “frames” per second and convert the image from monochrome (green) mode to color.
Interactive holographic complex from Southern California
The ICT Graphics Lab at the University of Southern California is also working on technology that offers similar picture quality. Back in 2009, its employees presented an interactive panoramic (the image can be viewed from any point on the circle) light display (Interactive 360º Light Field Display). The display is based on the technology of projecting an image onto a rotating anisotropic mirror.
Microsoft experiments
Among the most recent projects of holographic displays, we should recall the development of Microsoft Research Cambridge called Verneer. Vermeer is a complex of holographic screenless display and video camera that gives the system sensory functions. The display uses projection technology between two parabolic mirrors (mirascope). The laser beam draws an image at a frequency of 2880 times per second, sequentially passing through 192 points. As a result, the viewer sees an image updated 15 times per second, hanging in space and completely accessible for contact. It is precisely the contact with the illusory holographic image that is processed by the video camera, which is an analogue of the well-known Microsoft Kinect gesture manipulator.
Flexible option
The idea of the possibility of creating flexible displays is the first, not strictly related to the issue of adapting the virtual space of the screen to the physiology of human vision. Simply put, it doesn’t matter to the user whether he sees the image on a flexible or rigid display.
But the flexibility of displays is a completely revolutionary thing in terms of the ease of use of devices and their compactness, since it gives the screen properties inherent in a material that has long been familiar to mankind. Paper.
The paper sheet can easily be folded several times, rolled into a tube, and is resistant to falling. It is these properties that developers are trying to impart to their flexible displays – or, more broadly, flexible computers. It is worth noting that flexible displays to some extent compete with built-in displays. electronic devices pico projectors. The image they project already has sufficient brightness and resolution, and is also equipped with touch display functions.
Currently, almost all major electronics manufacturers have joined the technological race to create flexible displays. Among the names of the avant-garde here we can name Samsung, LG, Hewlett-Packard...
Flexible "fabric" for sewing displays produced by HP
The latter boasts the creation of a plastic material for display production that is only 100 micrometers thick. Displays made from this material have minimal energy consumption and are well compatible with miniaturization technologies for RAM and storage. Hewlett-Packard hopes to launch production of flexible computers as early as 2014.
LG display: thin and quite flexible
In turn, LG presented a production-ready sample of a flexible display in March 2012. The device shown has a diagonal of 6 inches and a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. The maximum bending angle can reach 40 degrees. The display weighs 14 grams, has a thickness of 0.7 millimeters and can withstand a fall from a height of 1.5 meters without consequences. LG plans to launch the display on the market in mid-2012.
Screenshots of a Sony display shown on a Sony laptop display
Speaking about the size of flexible displays, we can recall Sony’s recent announcement of a 9.9-inch flexible display based on an OLED matrix. The thickness of the display is 110 micrometers, and the resolution is 960 by 540 pixels (element density 111 PPI). The display was presented at Boston's Display's Display Week 2012 in the form of... a series of screenshots on a laptop.
Nanolumens doesn't skimp on size
The products of Nanolumens are much more realistic. The company has been producing flexible displays for home, office and outdoor space (presentation) since 2010 under the NanoFlex and NanoWrap brands. The displays are not particularly thin (the thickness of the matrix substrate can reach 4 centimeters, but, according to manufacturers, they practically do not impose restrictions on the area and diagonal of the screen. To prove their words, they have already demonstrated a presentation flexible display with an area of 5 square meters.
Samsung is in no hurry to show all its trump cards in this game
Finally, Samsung has repeatedly stated that it is actively developing flexible touch displays on OCTA (On Cell TSP AMOLED) matrices. In these displays, the company sees the potential to significantly reduce the power consumption of the screen of future smartphones and tablets, as well as the possibility of reducing the thickness of their housing by at least 35 percent. Unfortunately, Samsung plans to put models with a flexible display into production no earlier than 2013.
Prospects are clear
Transparent displays themselves are a technical fact. They are quite easy to produce. True, among the areas of use, design is mainly remembered: image design can serve as living examples Sony smartphone Ericsson Xperia Pureness or the more recent and budget Explay Crystal.
Transparent display in a budget version
However, display transparency can be used much more widely. And the most interesting application here is the creation of devices that combine information on the display with a human-visible area of space. At the moment, such devices with transparent displays are being actively developed by many companies, divided into three main types: screen systems, glasses systems and contact lens systems.
This is exactly how Samsung sees the tablets of the future
At the moment, Samsung and Microsoft are openly talking about developing screen systems. The first sees the result as creation mobile computer, which is a flexible transparent screen that can replace both a traditional tablet and expand the functions of accessing information network data to real life.
In which Windows will we see this?
Concerning Microsoft, then its Microsoft Applied Sciences division is working on creating an interface for a transparent screen, thanks to which a person can manually manipulate virtual entities operating system and programs running in it.
Project Glass
The most famous project of transparent screens made in the form of glasses virtual reality- This is, of course, Project Glass, developed by Google. At the end of June 2012, Google held a large presentation of the current state of the project as part of the Google I/O exhibition. During its course, the functions of the device were described (calls, first-person video recording, working with Internet services), some specifications and the design features are described (weight, availability of several color versions, availability of versions with tinted glass and glass with diopters).
Canon connects people and realities
However, we can also mention a new experimental development from Canon - Mixed Reality. For now, the system is in the status of an early prototype and therefore does not look very presentable. It consists of virtual reality glasses worn on the head and special manipulating probes. With their help, the software shell can impose virtual images on objects of the real environment, allowing them to be manipulated both by one person and as part of a team.
One pixel is not a revolution yet?
Finally, the most interesting and truly revolutionary topic of lens displays and lens computers is just gaining momentum. Since 2009, researchers from the Finnish Aalto University and the American University of Washington have been closely working on it. The project is currently at the first prototype stage, which is a contact lens with an antenna for wireless power delivery and a CMOS circuit that serves a single pixel in the center of the lens.
One of the areas of application of holography is pictorial holography. This is an attempt to comprehend some shapes or objects by displaying them in three dimensions. Artists have always tried to somehow display three-dimensionality in their works. Human eyes perceive volume very interestingly, and therefore for a person a three-dimensional object has always been a certain element distinctive from the pictorial series. But all artificial images created by man were two-dimensional. There is also a sculpture, but it is just a three-dimensional object. And creating the illusion of three dimensions was a dream. And then the areas that are now called stereo photography, or multi-angle photography, began to develop, where you can look at an object from different angles and see its volume.
Unlike these areas, the hologram immediately recorded three-dimensional images. It's very natural for her. Holographic exhibitions were very popular in the 1970s. A lot of people came, there were queues here, in Minsk, and in the United States. There were full houses to watch art holography- fine holography. The most unfortunate limitation of this process was that it was impossible to convey the dynamics in these three-dimensional paintings.
Scientists have tried to come up with animation methods when recording holograms. And microcinema appeared, where it was possible, moving near the hologram, to see how the object that was recorded on this hologram was developing. For example, blooming flowers: if you take a hologram of them at a certain interval, then, unfolding the process of flower development in space, you can see a three-dimensional picture of how the flower has changed over time. That is, the movement towards the movie-holographic has always existed. But a person would like something similar to a TV, because everyone is already used to it.
Electronic means of displaying information allow you to change the picture very quickly. It's very affordable because they're not that expensive. And holographic cinema turned out to be very expensive. The display equipment was all very complex. And here a problem arises: there are no recording media for dynamic holography. And part of the search results for these environments has now been allocated to an area called a holographic display.
Holographic displays most often refer to images that are not holographic. In Star Wars, you see some holograms of people moving somewhere in space. But there is no holography there really. There is no holography when they make some kind of camera attachments for photography. Holography is when a three-dimensional image is displayed in free space, while the two-dimensional medium remains as the information carrier, that is, ordinary photographic film, digital storage medium, multiple recording of the image, and then synthesis into a three-dimensional image.
How does a holographic display work? First of all, we need a light source with very good quality- three lasers. In order for a person to have a complete color representation, he needs three RGB lasers. The next necessary element is a lighting system to convert the light source from the laser to the desired format and then illuminate the modulator. And now several elements can be used as modulators for a holographic display. Yes LCoS is a technology Liquid Crystal on Silicon. This is a development of liquid crystal displays, but applied to microelectronics, because everything is done on the basis of a silicon substrate: a display is integrated there, it turns out to be efficient and high-resolution, and such a display can be used.
And the next element needed optics, which could transform this rather small image and project it into required format. And the optics can also be holographic. But what will be characteristic of such optics? Each laser will interact with its own optical element, with its own part of the optical system, because wavelength selectivity is very important in holography. If we do something non-selective, a rainbow and a lot of interfering images will immediately form on any optical element.
Of course, sometimes they are used. Rainbow holography, that is, stickers, shows a rainbow in one coordinate, and a three-dimensional image is visible in the other. But they have limited functionality. Therefore, to overcome this, you need optical elements that only interact with their laser. For example, a holographic lens for red light will only interact with red light. Same for other lenses. Holographic screens are the same lenses that match the beams that should reach the viewer with the beams formed on this microdisplay.
And then a very important thing: the higher the quality of the displayed information, the more high-resolution displays should be used for holography. And what’s more, the display resolution is ahead of what we see. Holography generally has the following property: to reflect some information, the number of pixels and samples that must be encoded in the information source must be twice as large. That is, the resolution of microdisplays is greater than the resolution that we see in a holographic image. And this is a basic thing. That is, holography must have redundancy, greater resolution, something that we want to see in the image. And this is where technological difficulties arise.
Where it is impossible to make one display that is both high-resolution and of the required size, opticians come up with image multiplication schemes, where each part of the image is displayed on its own microdisplay. The optical system converts individual images into one synthesized image. And a person can move around this holographic image and see it quite well. But in order for this system to be operational, all elements must be high-tech so that they can be integrated into a small volume, because potentially they can be generally planar, that is, they can be interfaced with planar microelectronics technology.
On the other hand, all optical elements that are created for holography are made on flat substrates. This is very important, because the entire element base of modern optics is designed for the fact that you have some kind of optical volumetric element. It is voluminous, and it needs to be polished, and an anti-reflective or, conversely, reflective coating for this element must be very precisely produced. And for holography, all possible elements are manufactured in approximately the same way - the holographic method. Every time we record an element, we modify the recording schemes. That is, we make some specialized settings on our devices to record a specific image or a specific wavefront. This takes some time, but the development of robotics allows us to hope that all this will be automated, and the process of switching from one record to another will be simplified.
When the general direction of “holographic display” developed, it gave birth to very interesting applications of displays, which showed that it was possible to do applied, simpler things that were very necessary, for example, displaying information for pilots or drivers against the background of the windshield. The key element of these display systems is the combining device for external source information for local as well. In English it's called beam combined, when you combine an image of the world around you with a local source of information. And as a combining element, the hologram turned out to be very useful, since it is transparent.
Unlike optical elements, a lens or a mirror, the entire wavefront, all the light, is transformed within the volume of glass or on the mirror, and a hologram can separate this. It transforms part of it, and part of it turns out to be unused. This is the so-called undiffracted light. This property of holograms turned out to be key to the creation of HMDs ( head-mounted display) - displays that are mounted on the head. Also for pilots and motorists there is head-up display, that is, the display that is directly in front of you. They are very convenient because they allow you not to be distracted from your surroundings in order, for example, to read some service information from the device.
This new field has placed holographic optical elements in a very important position. This is a key element for HMD, because all other elements are inferior to the hologram in terms of the discreetness of the display itself.
The second application of holographic optical elements is the construction of a three-dimensional image with offset. What it is? This is a hologram from which the image seems to stick out. That is, it is not behind the screen, but right in front of you, an image emerges from the hologram, and for some displays this is simply necessary. For example, for doctors, when they are analyzing some kind of surgical operation, where they need to know exactly what happened. And if you have a hologram behind glass, then it’s very difficult to get in there. But it is possible to construct an image in front of the hologram. And this is very useful, because in this way we can somehow introduce feedback. And for some professions Feedback very important because it's like tactile sensitivity.
And in all these cases, holography helps. Firstly, it helps because it makes holographic screens - they are unnoticeable and do not interfere. And secondly, part of the optical information processing that is done for such displays is also holography, only a digital hologram. Complete emulation of the propagation of light and its interaction with the recording medium, how light interferes with each other - all this is emulated electronically on a computer. And the result of this calculation can be displayed as a digital hologram on a storage medium and displayed. Holographic and optical elements are also very important at this display stage.
To fully utilize the qualities of three-dimensional images, it is better to illuminate them with a laser, which requires specific illuminators. And for any mobile devices These illuminators should be as compact as possible. And here the holography also says: “We can do it.” And researchers in their works show that holographic illuminators are much more compact than conventional, traditional illuminators, lens or mirror. They are flat and quite effective. And they open up a way for the laser to enter our world by directly displaying information, because all we mostly see now are LEDs or stereo systems that use traditional light sources. And for holographic displays, a laser is a fundamental thing. It allows you to unlock most of the advantages of optical processing of three-dimensional information.
We are approaching the same task from different angles - creating a holographic display for mass use. And if you look at advanced conferences, holographic displays are already a separate section. And many solutions and works demonstrate that successes are about to lead to a breakthrough.
I would like to end with optimism, because holography is now a place where you can apply your creative powers. This is science: it has its own laws, achievements, prejudices. But the area is developing very quickly and it is open, especially to young people. And I hope that holography in all its diversity (digital, holography for integrated optics, holography for displays) - all this will develop very quickly in the near future, because the basic elements already exist. You just need to creatively collect them and get a new quality.
Holograms are the future. At least, this is what Hollywood filmmakers believe, filling their science fiction films with translucent interfaces floating in the air. Like the ones on the spaceships in Passengers and Avatar.
True, so far we can only see three-dimensional graphics on movie screens using 3D glasses or. But Brooklyn-based startup Look Glass has created a device that brings us one step closer to full-fledged 3D reality without the need for additional gadgets.
Take a look at this. It may seem that in front of you is just a glass aquarium containing an incomprehensible red thing. But in fact, this is a display, and the object inside is a picture drawn by it. The Looking Glass uses innovative technology: it creates 45 different images of the same three-dimensional object, rotated at different angles, and then combines them through a special holographic lens. The result is the impression that you are seeing a real three-dimensional object.
Such a device will be incredibly useful for 3D graphics creators, game developers, industrial designers and engineers. The Looking Glass is compatible with programs such as Maya, Zbrush, Blender, Tinkercad and Solidworks. It allows you to view the results of your work right in the process. And besides, you can interact with the image as with an ordinary material thing. To do this, you can connect a Leap Motion Controller handheld tracker, an Intel Realsense camera, or a game controller such as Nintendo's Joy Con.
In the future, such technology may become popular among both gamers and ordinary consumers of digital content. Agree, it would be interesting to play something or watch movies on such a screen. With Looking Glass, in order to view the action from some angle, you just need to move to another corner of the room.
To operate the display you will need a computer with a processor of at least Intel Core i5, 4 GB and graphics Nvidia card GTX 1060 minimum, as well as an HDMI port for displaying images and USB-C for power. The display will come in two sizes: an 8.9-inch model for $600 and a 15.9-inch model for $3,000.
You can purchase a smaller version of The Looking Glass on Kickstarter for $400. Estimated delivery time is December.
Plasma panels and LCD screens have not surprised anyone for a long time, having taken their place in everyday life. The technology of creating a stereoscopic image using 3D glasses, which has emerged in recent years, has also become commonplace, occupying its niche and actively developing. Most experts are of the opinion that the next stage in the development of display technologies will be the emergence of a holographic projection screen, which is quite logical, since modern 3D television is an intermediate stage towards the formation of a three-dimensional image, since a three-dimensional image on such screens is visible only at a certain position of the head. Holographic displays can be considered as the next stage in the development of 3D technologies.
The principle of 3D technologies
Modern cinemas and TV use 3D technology, which is based on deceiving human vision by presenting slightly different images to the eyes, which ultimately creates a three-dimensional effect. Optical focus is widely used in 3D technology: for example, the illusion of depth and volume of an image is created using polarized glasses that filter part of the image for the left and right eyes.
Disadvantage of 3D technology
The disadvantage of this technology is that the three-dimensional image is visible only from a certain angle. Despite the fact that home TVs with 3D effect and without glasses are available for sale, the viewer can watch them only if he is directly in front of the display. The volumetric image begins to disappear when slightly shifted to the right or left relative to the center of the screen, which is the main drawback of all 3D displays. Holographic screens should solve this problem in the near future.
Pseudo-holographic displays
Today, pseudo-holographic screens created on the basis of a translucent mesh or film are very popular. The panels are attached to the ceiling or storefront. With proper lighting, the panels are invisible to humans, and if an image is projected onto them, it creates the impression of a hologram through which the viewer can look. Compared to liquid crystal screens and plasma, pseudo-holographic screens have a number of advantages: bright images, originality, and the ability to be installed in any room.
The projector that projects the image may be hidden from the viewer. The advantages of such equipment are wide viewing angles, high image contrast and the ability to create holographic screens of a certain size and shape. Displays on translucent film are used to give an unusual effect and charm to the room, design television studios and retail spaces. Transparent panels are produced by many companies and are used for advertising and marketing purposes.
Sax3D Screens
One of the most popular are Sax3D holographic screens from a German company, created using selective light refraction technology, thanks to which the system ignores any light in the room except for the projector beam. The display itself is made of durable clear glass, on top of which a thin film is applied, turning the screen into a hologram and displaying the contrast image projected by the projector. This holographic screen allows you to view both digital photographs and videos. Transscreen displays operate on a similar principle, made from polyester film with special layers that block the light coming from the projector.
Holographic TVs
Common people are more interested not in specialized screens, but in solutions that can be used in tablet computers, TVs and smartphones with a holographic screen. It is worth noting that in this area in recent years there has appeared a large number of original solutions, despite the fact that most of them work on the advanced 3D effect.
At CES 2011, InnoVision presented to the public a prototype of a TV with a holographic screen called HoloAd Diamond. When creating a TV, a prism is used that refracts the light coming from several projectors and creates a full-fledged hologram that the viewer can view from different angles. During the demonstration, visitors to the exhibition and journalists were able to verify that such a hologram significantly surpasses the images created by classic 3D devices in terms of color saturation and depth.
The HoloAd TV can display images, photos and videos in FLV format as a hologram. At the exhibition, the company presented two TV models based on a similar principle: the resolution of the first is 1280x1024 pixels, weight - 95 kilograms, the resolution of the second is 640x480 pixels. Despite the fact that TVs are quite large, they are convenient and comfortable to use.
Technology development
Experts from the HP laboratory, located in Palo Alto, have attempted to eliminate the age-old problem of screens with a 3D effect. To reproduce a three-dimensional image visible from any viewing point, the researchers proposed showing the image from different sides, sending a separate picture to each eye of the viewer. This technology involves the use of a system with laser systems and rotating mirrors, but Californian scientists resorted to components of a conventional liquid crystal panel, applying a large number of circular grooves to the inner surface of the screen glass. As a result, this made it possible to refract light in such a way as to create a three-dimensional hologram in front of the viewer. The screen, created by HP specialists, shows viewers a static three-dimensional image projected from two hundred points, and a dynamic picture from sixty-four.
Phone with holographic screen
Relatively recently, the event expected by many finally took place - a smartphone with a holographic display was officially presented. The display technology used in the Red Hydrogen One is expensive, but will be used on many mobile devices in the near future.
Red primarily specializes in the production of professional digital cinema cameras, but has now turned its attention to a new industry with the development and introduction of the Red Hydrogen One holographic screen smartphone.
Phone display
Red said the screen installed on the smartphone is a hydrogen holographic display that allows you to instantly switch between 2D content, 3D content and holographic content from the Red Hydrogen 4-View app. Despite the fact that exact information about the principle of this technology has not been published, the smartphone allows you to view all holograms without the use of special glasses or additional accessories.
The demonstration of the Red smartphone with a holographic screen took place in June 2017, but no details have yet been disclosed by the manufacturer. However, there are a few lucky bloggers who managed to hold two prototypes of the smartphone in their hands: one is a non-functional mockup showing the finishing and appearance phone, the second is a working device, which the company still keeps secret.