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New technique could lead to bigger, cheaper and color-accurate holograms
Microsoft's recent HoloLens announcement has reignited interest in holographic displays, but the current state of affairs suggests that this technology may still be too expensive and limited to become truly widespread. Researchers at Brigham Young University (BYU) and MIT are bridging the gap with a new important step toward the next generation of high-bandwidth, color-accurate holographic video displays that could span the size of an entire room at one tenth the cost of state of the art devices.
Unlike 3D movies, which render images from the very same angle no matter where you're sitting, holograms change dynamically based on the viewer's angle and position to provide a much more realistic sense of depth. The higher level of immersion has allowed for some memorable performances on stage and could transform the worlds of computer-aided design and communications (think telepresence), but the high cost and limited capabilities of today's holographic displays have been hard to overcome.
Things might change with the help of research by assistant professor Daniel Smalley and team, who have built on some of their previous work on the subject to complete a crucial new step toward building the next generation of holographic displays.
In 2013, the same team developed a way to precisely control light with the help of surface acoustic waves. The researchers used a piezoelectric crystal featuring microscopic channels, or waveguides, to confine and direct light.
A metal electrode was then placed onto each waveguide. When a radio frequency was applied to the electrode, this generated an acoustic wave that could change the polarization of the light beam and scatter light along the crystal as needed to produce a holographic image.
This scattering process gives rise to two optical modes – one that follows the direction of the waveguide, and a second "leaky" mode with opposite polarization that is directed toward the bottom of the crystal, where the hologram is generated. The angle and frequency of these two modes determines the color of each of the hologram's "pixels," but the relationship between these quantities is very complex, making it difficult to control the color of the hologram. Now, Smalley and team have found a way to map which parameters correspond to each color, in an advance that could bring higher color fidelity to the world of holograms.
The scientists set a prism on a rotating platform, exposed it to red, green and blue light from different angles and then used a photodetector to scan the output color produced. With this apparatus, the researchers were able to map the relationship between the input radio frequency used on the waveguide and the angular deflection of the output light. Creating such data maps for the three primary colors allows the researchers to control the color of the hologram with a high degree of precision.
Since the same color can be obtained in more than one way, the additional degrees of freedom allow for further optimization of the holographic display's performance in terms of efficiency, bandwidth or compactness. Ultimately, this will afford a greater level of flexibility in building the next generation of holographic video displays.
"We can use this technology to make simple and inexpensive color waveguide displays – including inexpensive holographic video displays," says Smalley. "This can drop the cost of a holographic video display from tens of thousands of dollars to less than a thousand."
The researchers are now focusing on scaling up their technology from a laboratory sample to a display that could span the size of an entire room.
An open-access paper describing the advance appears in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments.
Source: American Institute of Physics
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/next-generation-holographic-display/36123/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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