Holography

The ordinary photograph gives us only a two

dimensional image of the object. In ordinary photography we make use of lenses to focus the image on the photographic plate. The focussing takes place only in a single plane and all other planes are out of focus. Thus there is a two dimensional recording of a three dimensional object. The photographic plate records only the intensity variations while the phase distribution prevailing at the plane of photography plate is completely lost.

Cont.
Hence the three dimensional character of the object is

lost in recording. After the development of the photographic plate, only two dimensional pictures are obtained. When we examine the photograph from various directions we are unable to see what is happening on the other side of the object. Holography is a technique for recording and reproducing an image of the object without the use of lenses.

Cont.
A fundamentally new method of recording of optical

images known as holography is now available. The word holography originates from the Greek word holo meaning the Whole and graphy meaning the writing i.e. holography means complete recording. The principle of holography was first put forward by Denis Gabor, of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London, in 1947.

Cont.
In holography, the image of the object to be photographed

is not recorded but the light waves reflected from the object are recorded. The photographic record is called a hologram. Holography is a two step processes: (1) Transformation of the object into hologram i.e. an object illuminated by coherent light is made to produce interference fringes in a photographic emulsion (2) Retransformation or reconstruction of hologram into the image of the object i.e. re-illumination of the developed interference pattern by light of same wavelength to produce a three dimensional image of the original object.

Whats holography?
Holography is the process or technique of making three-dimensional image of the object. A hologram is produced by the interaction of two beams of laser light , one is the object beam coming through the object and another is the reference beam coming directly from the source.

Principle of Holography
During the recording process, object wave (wave illuminating

the object) and the reference wave (coming directly from source) interfere in the plane of the recording medium and produce interference fringes. This photographic plate carrying the interference pattern is called Hologram.
The interference fringes contain all the information about

the intensity and the phase of the scattered beam from object.
In the reconstruction process, the hologram acts as diffraction

grating. This is illuminated by a wave called the reconstruction wave (in most cases this similar to the reference wave used for recording the hologram) and the image of the object is reconstructed from the hologram.

Construction of Holograms
Need a laser (highly coherent and monochromatic light),

lenses, mirror, photographic film, and an object Beam splitter separates the laser light into two beams, reference beam and object beam Reference beam aimed at a piece of holographic film by mirrors. Object beam directed at object to be recorded to illuminate object and then meets reference beam at film. Produces interference pattern of object beam and reference beam which is recorded. Film is developed. This film is called a hologram. This hologram contains all the information about the intensity and phases of the scattered waves from the object.

Construction of Hologram

Reconstruction of an image from Hologram To view the image, the hologram is again illuminated
with another laser beam called the reconstruction beam which is identical to the reference beam. Hologram acts as a diffraction grating and diffracts the light. This form a real image in front of the hologram and a virtual image behind the hologram. The virtual image has all the characteristic of the object. The real image can be photographed directly without using a lens just by placing a light sensitive medium at the position of real image.

Reconstruction of an image from Hologram

Hololography vs. Photography

Photography is 2D record of a 3D object whereas holography

gives a three dimensional form of original object. If any object is hidden just behind another object then the observer can see the hidden object in viewing the hologram. Hologram is the positive pattern whereas in conventional photography negative pattern is produced. In ordinary photography each region contains separate and individual part of the original object. Destruction of a portion of a negative leads to an irrepairable loss of information corresponding to the destroyed part. On the other hand, each part of a hologram contains information about the entire object. Destruction of a part of hologram does not cause a loss of information about the object, each seaparate fragment is capable of producing image with a reduced clarity.

Hololography vs. Photography (contd)

The information holding capacity of a hologram is extremely high by recording several images of the object whereas in ordinary photography a photofilm cannot be used to record several images. Without the knowledge of the reference wavefront the hologram cannot be deciphered.

This diagram shows how a hologram is made. There is an important difference between a photograph and a hologram: a photograph consists of pixels which, combined, show the original image - a hologram consists of wave interference patterns which describe or "encode" the original object. It requires an additional step of creating the projection to make the object visible again. As a consequence, if you cut a photograph in half, then half of its pixels will be missing. But if you cut a hologram in half, you can still use each of the pieces to project the whole 3dimensional object that was recorded! Although there are no actual dots in a hologram, it could be said that each of a hologram's "dots" contains the whole image.

Applications of Holography
Design of containers to Improve design of

hold nuclear materials Credit cards carry monetary value Supermarket scanners Optical Computers

aircraft wings and turbine blades Used in aircraft headsup display Art Archival Recording of fragile museum artifacts