REAL TIME HOLOGRAPHY WITH POLYMER FILMS

Obinna Anyanwu, Kristin Beck, Craig Gorin, Michael Ireland, Matthias Jamison-Koenig, Ryan Nolan, Rachel Ostrand, Ryan Perumpail, Prasad Tare, Eric Van Nostrand, Charles Won

Advisor: David McGee, Ph.D
Assistant: Katy Rolfe

ABSTRACT

Holography has recently returned to the forefront of physics with new applications in security verification, display technology, and information storage. With the development of cost-efficient organic polymer films, holograms are developing into more than an amusing artistic media. Holograms store information about the intensity and phase of light reflected from an object, giving depth to the resultant image. Thus, information can be represented in three dimensions as opposed to two. Many such compact images can be placed on a film and subsequently recreated by changing the angle of the incident light and the position on the film to each image’s location. This process is the key to using holography for mass data storage. In holographic reconstructive imaging the wave nature of light allows for the generation of a unique diffraction grating which may be used to store data. Although various companies have implemented this property in data storage technology, none have solved the problem of long term image decay. In this project, the goal is to store holograms in an organic polymer film using an optical breadboard, a helium-neon laser, a beam splitter, mirrors, and kinematic optical mounts. This experiment is designed to measure the decay time for a hologram when placed in a split-beam image setup. The angular selectivity of the holographic process is also used to store multiple images on the same film. Image retention of the film is then measured using a digital camera along with image analysis software.