If you’ve ever let your curiosity get the best of you while watching a 3-D movie and removed your “special” glasses, you have seen the strange configuration of rainbow colors that miraculously come together to create a three-dimensional picture. A hologram, however, requires no visual devices to project the detailed, 3-D image and you do not even need to be in a movie theater.

Holograms are becoming more accessible in the medical field, the military, architecture and security.

The basic concept behind holography is that light from a single source, usually a laser, is split into two beams. One beam, the reference beam, hits the film and the other illuminates the object and scatters back to the film. The two fields that hit the film then sync up with each other to create the hologram. When the hologram is illuminated by another beam, the field that scattered off the object is reproduced just as if the original object were there and the eye sees what appears to be a 3-D object, said Professor P. Scott Carney (ECE).

The process results in an image that captures not just brightness, but the field itself, which is why holograms are attractive to scientific and medical research.

“With a hologram, or a series of them, you can take data from the image, shuttle it off to a computer and calculate the underlying structure of an object like a cell,” Carney said.

Many credit cards, DVD and CD packaging have a holographic sticker as a security device. The hologram, often depicted as a bird in flight, has the capacity to store large amounts of information.

“Right now the security items are a commodity, but we’re hoping that the use will continue to grow and that anything from simple to complex constructions will be more widely used,” said Lisa Dhar, technology manager in the Office of Technology Management at the University.

Holography has even found its place in the military with Zebra Imaging’s recent development of the M2, the world’s first field deployable holographic imaging system.

“Holograms provide soldiers with a true three-dimensional representation of their battle space, assisting with mission planning, situational awareness, route planning and after-action review,” said Eric Doane, defense programs specialist at Zebra Imaging.

The M2 also helps lift the language barrier for officers trying to communicate with civilians.

“A local who does not speak English can much easier point out locations of insurgent whereabouts on a hologram compared to a spot on a topographic map,” Doane said.

The same principle holds true for architects, who can present more comprehensive designs with holographic displays rather than constructing a model or creating a two-dimensional drawing.

“Overall it can provide a much more vivid or compelling representation of what you want to show and the image is much more accessible for your audience,” said Dhar.

In other words, three-dimensional images are not confined to movie theaters or computer screens. On battlefields, in laboratories, on architectural designs and in wallets, holography has redefined traditional imaging approaches and will continue to improve the quantity and quality of what can be seen in a single picture.