LASER REFLECTIONS: WORK IN PROGRESS

The most recent fixture we have developed utilizes new, compact lasers to showcase the magic of transmission holography. Transmission holograms can exhibit considerable optical volume and up to several meters of scene depth. In a well designed fixture, they can more than live up to the label of magic windows or (in keeping with our penchant for product monikers) PeepHols.

Plates up to 60cm x 40cm supporting image volumes exceeding 20 cubic meters can be displayed using the green light (532nm) output of a 50mW diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser source currently selling for ~$750. Alternatively, a $55 diode laser (with a 5mW output in the red between 635nm and 640nm) is absolutely adequate for reconstructing PeepHols up to 15cm x 20cm in a room with subdued lighting (think science centers, museums and nightclubs).
It’s worth mentioning that smaller transmission holograms can actually appear more magical than larger ones – owing perhaps to the disproportionate degree of image volume to surface area. How can something as small as 5cm x 10cm contain what appears to be an entire roomful of people?
Lasers producing blue, yellow and orange light currently cost considerably more than their red and green counterparts but like everything fighting for high-volume applications in projection display and communications – they too are certain to get better and cheaper by the year. While some have heralded the new cheaper semiconductor lasers as the panacea for holographic recording, I will argue that a good laser for holographic mastering still costs $200,000 (a claim I’ve been making for over a decade now) but the new laser diodes are the real deal when it comes to holographic reconstruction.

When I’m asked when big Q-switched lasers like ours will get cheap, I mention that my laser company (Positive Light) will charge me more for my 1Joule system now than when my Quantel hardware was new some 25 years ago. I’ve known a couple of people who purchased used hardware (like I did) with the goal of building a green light imaging system - but unless you’ve got a decent background with laser hardware this isn’t a course of action I would recommend.

We do offer our studio on a for-hire basis fully staffed at pricing that we feel is very reasonable: $5,000 for a mastering session wherein we shoot and process up to (5) 16” x 12” masters; up to (3) 20” x 14” transmission master (H1’s); or a single 30” x 22” master (our largest transmission format). Reflection copies can be ordered at any time ranging from $325 (for 16” x 12” in lots of five) to $650 for 20” x 14” H2’s.

With the transmission masters in-hand, a number of studios can produce high quality white light reflection transfers using several types of commercial lasers. From our own experience, we have had copies produced using HeNe, Nd:YAG, Krypton and Argon lasers - from several different studios all of which were of excellent quality. Now, with diode lasers producing several hundred mW at 650nm and DPSS lasers producing watts of narrowband output at 532nm - the opportunity exists to commission custom portraits in our studio; leave with the masters and produce image-plane transfers with a relatively inexpensive CW diode or DPSS system and a stable table.