Practical holography: The modulator converts a video signal (from the black cable at the bottom) into a vibration. When laser light is passed through the modulator, the vibrations modify the brightness and frequency of the light. The altered light is then shined on a screen, and the varying intensities and frequencies create a three-dimensional hologram.
Daniel Smalley

Computing

Practical Holographic Video

Researchers have designed a cheap and small holography system that will work with PCs and gaming consoles.

  • Tuesday, April 24, 2007
  • By Kate Greene

The tyranny of two-dimensional computer and TV displays could soon be over. A team of MIT researchers has proposed a way to make a holographic video system that works with computer hardware for consumers, such as PCs with graphics cards and gaming consoles. The display, the researchers say, will be small enough to add to an entertainment center, provide resolution as good as a standard analog television, and cost only a couple hundred dollars.

A holographic video display could provide another way to view medical images such as MRIs and CT scans, as well as sets of complex, multidimensional data and designs for furniture and cars, says V. Michael Bove Jr., director of the consumer electronics program, CELab, at MIT. And the system would be a natural fit for displaying video games and virtual worlds. Most games now have sophisticated three-dimensional models sitting deep within their software, "but you don't see them because [the images are] rendered as a two-dimensional picture," Bove says.

The new system, called Mark III, is the third generation (following Mark I and Mark II) of MIT-designed holographic video displays that date back to the late 1980s. These earlier systems were "loud, finicky, required specialized computing hardware to generate a video signal, and were a general pain in the neck to work with," says Bove. A few years ago, he wondered if he could turn a laboratory-based holographic display system that cost tens of thousands of dollars into an affordable consumer product.

Thus, Bove and his team have developed Mark III--expected to be completed within a couple of months--which is based on the earlier systems but has three major differences. First, explains Bove, the new system processes three-dimensional images on a standard graphics processor rather than on specialized hardware. It turns out, he says, that the graphics cards that are found in high-end PCs and gaming consoles are a good fit for the type of image processing required to create a hologram. Second, his team has redesigned a gadget called an acousto-optic modulator, commonly found in telecommunications systems, to direct light from lasers to form the hologram. The new modulator has a higher bandwidth, which makes for a high-resolution hologram, and is less expensive than the ones used in Mark II. Third, the researchers have eliminated some of the clunky optical components that made the Marks I and II as large as a dining-room table.

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To create a holographic video, Bove says, software produces a real-time, three-dimensional model of the objects within a scene. So, for an MRI of a beating heart, the software uses a collection of numbers that describe the position of all points on the surface of the heart, in all three dimensions. With such a model in place, software calculates how lasers need to project the light to create a hologram. In essence, the software creates a blueprint for the lasers to follow that consists of the basis of all holograms: a diffraction pattern, which occurs when light waves interfere with one another.

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brunascle

65 Comments

  • 1755 Days Ago
  • 04/24/2007

wow

as a PC gamer, i would love to see this in action.

what's great it that it would probably already work with any software designed in DirectX/OpenGL, since the software is just sending the data about the 3d models to the hardware (via the drivers for the graphics library). as long as the hologram hardware implemented DirectX/OpenGL drivers, i imagine it would just be plug & play.

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zippo

24 Comments

  • 1755 Days Ago
  • 04/24/2007

Re: wow

Yeah, I don't see any need for them to reinvent the wheel. They will save money and be gaurunteed excellent support if they stick with DirectX/OpenGL.

Reply

radmin

1 Comment

  • 1754 Days Ago
  • 04/25/2007

Bigger dish...Bigger Holo?

Was just wondering if the size of the hologram is restricted by the size of the foggy dish?  Would be cool to have this in your house and get a fog machine to fill your livingroom.

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Guest (Henryfarmer)

  • 1753 Days Ago
  • 04/26/2007

holograms

I just read a book (Lucian’s Place by Bell Smith) where one of the main characters was a computer with a knock out beautiful body, natural look, hologram as her personification. I can see that happening one day. This computer falls in love with a real human, but alas she is just a self aware computer.

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Tremain2004

3 Comments

  • 1753 Days Ago
  • 04/26/2007

Better idea. I think.

I beleive there is a much better, much simpler, and much cheaper way to provide 3D.

MIT EE.

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grausc01

12 Comments

  • 1752 Days Ago
  • 04/27/2007

Optimistic

"The tyranny of two-dimensional computer and TV displays could soon be over." Well, I'm sure the same thing was said for the Mark I and II.  I'm like the next tech guy; as soon as a protoype hits the news, I think it is going to revolutionize the world.  Half the time this stuff gets caught up in paperwork and funding issues.  And if the display is only analog at best, viewing MRIs and such will not be possible as the screens they currently use are extremely high resolution.

For future articles MIT Tech Review, please RESIST opening the story with saying a current technologies days are numbered.  There are plenty of articles in your archives that open with this line and the products never turn over.

Yes, we will have holographic monitors some day, but not that soon.

Reply

SVE

51 Comments

  • 1752 Days Ago
  • 04/27/2007

Re: Optimistic

If you are medical doctor, you're probably used to using microscopes and having things on your face.. Why couldn't you just use a flat panel LCD screen with timed LCD shutter glasses?

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briang1621

173 Comments

  • 1749 Days Ago
  • 04/30/2007

Difference between 3D and holographic displays

   Please note that there is a difference between 3D display and holographic displays. As you move your head around a 3D display the image does not re-adjust to your new position so you can not view what is behind it with out telling the computer to move your point of view. Where as, in a holographic display as you move your head around the display the object in the display seems to move allowing you an extra degree of freedom over the cheaper 3D displays.
     Volumetric displays like that of Actuality-Systems have comparable viewing characteristic as holographic display but are larger than the one mentioned in this article, and in some cases lower resolution. 3D displays have advanced rapidly over the years, and are broken up into two categories, ones that require goggles or glasses and those that are goggle-less. The goggle-less displays like Sharp’s 3D monitor are on the market and coming down in price. Goggle 3D display are relatively common and are simple as a pair of goggles with a flickering LCD shutter which alternates in sync with a CRT or LCD screen to create a 3D illusionary effect.
     Until now it seems that holographic display were far from being ready for market, but this breakthrough brings us with in a reasonable distance. I am interest to see which company buys this technology for their future displays, Sharp, Sony, or someone else? 
Thank you
Brian Glassman
Pembroke Pines, Florida
Commercialization
Innovation Management 

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Bachalarius1

1 Comment

  • 396 Days Ago
  • 01/12/2011

Re: Difference between 3D and holographic displays

I'm interested in knowing more about your company. I have developed a deep view 3D display that uses lenticular lenses and a light guide to produce stunning imagery in fine detail - it's left field, patented in the UK and patent pending in the US. Might this be of interest to you?

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GoodIdea

1 Comment

  • 1451 Days Ago
  • 02/22/2008

Wondering

I was wondering how fast the vibrations actually are because there was another company using a series of mirrors to get this same effect but visually it turned out real grainy. I think it was because the motors could not keep up with such a 3D visual image.

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