First stable color hologram

2011/04/12 Kortabitarte Egiguren, Irati - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Fisika

Researchers at Osaka University of Japan have developed the first stable color hologram.

Conventional holograms are not able to maintain a uniform color. That is, their shades change according to the angle of view. The hologram developed by Japanese researchers presents the same color from one angle to another.

The way to make the same hologram is the usual one, the light of a laser is divided into two rays and the interferences of both rays are collected in a photosensitive material. In this case it is done on three occasions with lasers of three basic colors (red, blue and green).

The difference is in the visualization process regarding the conventional hologram procedure. A typical hologram becomes visible illuminated with the original laser, while Japanese researchers have achieved that the lighting is done with white light and that in the photosensitive material "superficial plasmons" are generated. These plasmons emit visible light with the color of the object. The success of the discovery has been precisely the fact that these emissions are of the same color and stable at all angles.

Image courtesy of: Science / AAAS