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Holograms have been around for quite a while and progresses have been made but we are still far from providing a “solid” image that we can look at from different points of view, circling around it as if it were a real 3D object.
Researchers at Brigham Young University have decided to take a completely different approach. It does not result, at least from what one can see (watch the clip) in a really credible display of a 3D object that can trick your eyes into believing it is real but it is noteworthy for the originality of the approach and the possibilities it opens up.
They are presenting their result in a paper on Nature.
The team got inspiration from Star Wars and in particular from the 3D display that was used on the Enterprise, and aptly named their project Princess Leia.
They created a new technology, Optical Trap Display, using micro particles of cellulosa (fibres from plants) that can be controlled with high precision in space and illuminate them with laser beams. The particles become floating light points that can of course be viewed from any angle.
As I said, it is not the real thing but the technology making this possible is awesome: you have to control thousands of particles (they are the volumetric pixels, voxels, making up the 3D image) and direct the laser beams to illuminate precisely each single particle. There is a lot of processing power and software behind this. We may not see this as a replacement for 4k movies where the sense of depth is actually created by our brain but this technology can have some interesting applications.
One of the examples provided is to create augmented reality with 3D images over-imposed on real objects, something useful to guide a technician in the repair of an engine. Other applications may support telepresence and eventually this technology might find a way into our homes where you would have the opportunity of fitting a (virtual) pair of shoes you are considering buying on the internet. Quite frankly I am not betting in these latter kinds of application, but … never say never.
