Butterfly Wing Optics Help to Cheaply Create Bright, Realistic Holograms

University of Utah electrical and computer engineering associate professor Rajesh Menon

shows off a new 2D hologram that can be displayed with just a flashlight. His team has discovered a way to create inexpensive full-color 2D and 3D holograms that are far more realistic, brighter, and can be viewed at wider angles than current holograms. Credit: Dan Hixson/University of Utah College of Engineering Holograms have long captured the public's imagination. Whether it's Star Wars fans dreaming of holographic messages and chess games, concertgoers standing in awe before a resurrected Tupac Shakur, or the holographic future envisioned in the upcoming Blade Runner 2049, the hologram concept seems to offer something for everyone. But despite the development of modern, laser-based hologram technology since the 1960s, the only holograms most of us encounter today are the blurry security images on our credit cards or the occasional dimly lit display in a science museum. Now a team of engineers from the University of Utah claims to have developed a game-changing technology that can cheaply create photorealistic 3D holograms that are viewable with nothing more than a flashlight. In a paper published in Scientific Reports, the researchers explain how they used complex 3D nanostructures to produce holograms with the kind of rich colors and bright display that may one day make sophisticated holograms an everyday reality.