News in Brief

MIT Improves SLM for Hologram Imaging

After more than four years of research, scientists from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have reported ¹ that they can now control light at unprecedented speeds, steer the beam in a specific direction, and manipulate the light’s intensity, bringing them closer to their objective of creating a freestanding 3D hologram.

The device under development is a programmable, wireless spatial light modulator (SLM), that can manipulate light at the wavelength scale with ‘orders of magnitude faster than existing commercial devices’, MIT said.

‘Generating a freestanding 3D hologram would require extremely precise and fast control of light beyond the capabilities of existing technologies, which are based on liquid crystals or micromirrors,’ MIT went on to comment.