Light Sheet Holography – a New Class of Hologram

A team of scientists and engineers led by Federico Capasso, Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has reported in Nature Photonics a new way of creating holograms using threads of light layered to construct 2D sheets containing tightly controlled arrays of light. These sheets can then be tightly stacked –like a pile of cheese slices – to depict 3D objects.

‘This research leverages in an innovative way the widely used and commercially established technology of spatial light modulators to shape light as it propagates, creating an entirely new class of holograms,’ says Capasso. ‘I foresee that this holography method will have impact on virtual and augmented reality, biological imaging, volumetric displays, human-computer interactions, interactive educational tools, and more.’