Ultrarealistic imaging: the future of display holography

Abstract. Ultrarealistic imaging is the science of producing images that faithfully recreate the light field surrounding an object, such that the unaided eye of a human observer cannot distinguish the difference between the original and the image. Recent technology improvements are now set to transform the fields of both analog and digital display holography, permitting both techniques to operate in the ultrarealistic regime. In particular, ultrarealistic analog holograms have now heralded the serious use of holography in such areas as museum display and cultural heritage protection. These full-color holograms are characterized by a substantially lower noise and a greater spectral fidelity. New recording systems, based on recent diode-pumped solid-state and semiconductor lasers combined with recording materials and processing, have been behind these improvements. Progress in illumination technology, however, has also led to a major reduction in display noise and to a significant increase in the clear image depth and brightness of holograms. Recent progress in one-step direct-write digital holography (DWDH) is now also opening the way to the creation of a new type of ultrarealistic display: the high virtual volume display. This is a large format full-parallax DWDH reflection hologram having a fundamentally larger clear image depth.