Indian-origin researcher creates 6-D holograms that interact with light

Washington, August 29 (ANI): An Indian-origin scientist in the U.S. has devised a way to create six-dimensional images that respond to changes in light and the viewer's direction, by adapting the basic technology used in cheap 3-D postcards and novelty items for the purpose.

"We are the first ones to build a display that changes with lighting. We've finally found a way to build the most realistic display," Discovery News quoted Ramesh Raskar, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as saying.

The postcards' technology works because a series of raised parallel lines create tiny lenses that project different images at either vertical or horizontal angles. The effect can make an image of a car appear like it's moving down a road or a hand appear like it's waving as you tilt the card one way and then another.

In place of parallel lines, Raskar uses squares to create lenses that present different images at both vertical and horizontal angles simultaneously.

He says that unlike a TV where information only goes in one direction, the 6-D display would respond to changes in the illumination around it, like passing shadows or bright highlights.

The researcher says that the response of the six-dimensional holograms to light could be better understood by visualizing what would happen if a flashlight is shone on a real flower and a holographic one simultaneously.

"They would both look real. But if you shine a flashlight on the hologram, light would pass right through it while the real flower would change in response to the light," said Raskar.

He insisted that an image created with the aid of the new technology would actually respond to light like a real flower.

To demonstrate their design, the scientists created a 6-D image of a wine bottle in the display and showed the device at the recent SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques) conference.

The researchers say that the technology is currently expensive, and at least two to three years away from realistic use. (ANI)