Holographic displays near or distant future. The holographic screen of the Red Hydrogen One smartphone is not similar to what was previously in this segment

We are already accustomed to plasma panels and LCD screens in everyday life. No one is surprised by such display technology as 3D, which has appeared in recent years. The technology for creating stereoscopic images using special 3D glasses has successfully occupied its niche and is actively developing. Many experts believe that further development display technology, or rather a real revolution in this segment, will occur with the release of holographic screens. After all, in fact, modern 3D television is an intermediate stage on the path to creating a real three-dimensional image, since such screens look three-dimensional only at a certain position of the head. Holographic displays in this regard can be considered as a further development of 3D technology.

The basic principle of 3D technology used in modern TV or cinemas is to trick a person's eyes into perceiving a three-dimensional picture by presenting slightly different images to each eye. This optical focus is used everywhere in the currently popular 3D solutions. For example, the illusion of volume and depth in a picture is created using polarized glasses that filter part of the image for the right and left eyes.

But this technology has a significant drawback - the three-dimensional image is visible to the viewer only from a strictly defined angle. Today, glasses-free home 3D TVs have already become widely available. But even when watching such a TV, the viewer must be exactly in front of the screen. It is enough to move a little to the right or left relative to the center of the screen, and the three-dimensional picture begins to disappear. This disadvantage of modern 3D screens will have to be solved in the near future by so-called holographic displays.

We all remember scenes from famous Hollywood films like “Star Wars”, where three-dimensional images appear in the form of holograms and literally hang in the air. A hologram is, in principle, a special type of three-dimensional projected image that can be created using laser light or other sources. It is believed that in the near future this technology will step into our daily life. True, the release of holographic TVs is still very far away. From time to time, interesting prototypes of devices with pseudo-holographic or advanced stereoscopic displays appear, which arouse great interest among the public. But there are no full-fledged holographic screens available for sale yet.

For example, so-called pseudo-holographic screens based on the use of a special translucent film or mesh have already found widespread use today. Such panels are simply suspended from the ceiling, or fixed to the glass of a retail display case. Under special lighting conditions, the translucent panel becomes invisible to humans. And if an image is projected onto it, then it creates the impression of a picture reigning in the air - that same hologram. The image is projected onto a translucent panel using a projector. The panel allows the viewer to look through the picture. Such pseudo-holographic displays have a number of advantages over plasma or LCD screens due to their originality, rich images in almost any lighting conditions and the ability to be placed anywhere.

The projector itself, which projects the image, can remain out of view of the viewer. The undoubted advantages of such solutions also include good viewing angles (close to 180 degrees), high contrast pictures and the ability to create holographic screens large size or a certain geometric shape. Naturally, displays on translucent film are used primarily to give rooms a certain charm and unusual effect, to decorate retail spaces and television studios. Transparent panel solutions are being developed by many companies and are primarily used for marketing and advertising purposes to impress consumers.

In particular, film-based Sax3D screens have become widespread. This German company uses a selective light refraction system that makes it possible to ignore any light in the room except the beam of the projector. The main part of the screen itself is durable glass, completely transparent. It is on this that a special film is applied, thanks to which the screen turns into a kind of hologram and displays a contrasting image projected by the projector. You can view both videos and digital photographs on such a pseudo holographic screen. Transscreen screens work on approximately the same principle, based on the use of polyester film with special layers that can block the light coming from the projector.

But we, of course, are primarily interested in solutions that can be used in TVs, tablet computers and smartphones. And it should be noted that in recent years there has been more and more interesting devices in this area, although most of them actually use the same notorious 3D effect, only slightly expanded and improved.

At CES 2011, InnoVision Labs showed the public a prototype of the TV of the future - a TV with a holographic screen. The development is called HoloAd Diamond. It is a prism that can refract light coming from several projectors, which creates a full-fledged hologram that the viewer can view from any angle. Moreover, journalists and ordinary visitors to the exhibition were convinced that the hologram created by HoloAd Diamond looks better in comparison with three-dimensional images on 3D devices. The images on the holographic screen are distinguished by their depth and rich colors.

This projector-TV can reproduce not only photographs and pictures in a hologram, but also videos, although so far only in FLV format. At the exhibition, two models of televisions based on the same principle were demonstrated. The first supports a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels and weighs 95 kilograms, while the second TV is more compact, but has a resolution of only 640 x 480 pixels. The devices are quite bulky, but they are convenient to use. The older version of the holographic screen can be purchased for ten thousand dollars.

Researchers from HP's Palo Alto laboratory in California tried to solve the age-old problem of 3D screens in their own way. To reproduce a three-dimensional image that would be visible regardless of the viewing angle, the researchers proposed showing images of objects from different angles, simultaneously sending a different image to each eye. This is usually achieved by using a whole system with rotating mirrors and laser devices. But Californian scientists took the components of a standard LCD panel and applied a huge number of circular grooves to the inner glass of the screen in a special way. As a result, the light is refracted in a way that allows the viewer to see a three-dimensional hologram. In any case, the screen created by HP researchers allows a person to see a static three-dimensional image from two hundred different points, and a dynamic 3D picture from sixty-four. True, the scientists themselves note that the creation of a full-fledged moving hologram, which we see in the movies, is still a long way off.

Microsoft Research, which developed the Vermeer display, also offers an interesting solution. This screen creates a holographic image “floating” right in the air in the spirit of the legendary “Star Wars”. It uses an optical illusion effect called “mirascope”. Structurally, Vermeer consists of two parabolic mirrors and a projector with a special optical system capable of reproducing up to three thousand images per second. The projector projects a hologram of one hundred and ninety-two dots at a frequency of 15 frames per second.

The most important thing is that the 3D image view is available from any angle (360 degrees). Moreover, the user can successfully interact with this kind of hologram, since access to it is not blocked by any glass panel. That is, she can respond to touch. For this purpose, the device is equipped with infrared illumination and a camera, the main purpose of which is to track the movements of a person’s hands.

The Vermeer display has not yet been put into commercial production, but it is clear that it does have serious prospects, for example, in the gaming industry. This innovative device appeared in 2011, and a year later Apple patented its own display, which in many respects resembles the same Vermeer. It is an interactive screen that can display 3D holograms and allow the user to interact with them.

The same pair of parabolic mirrors is used here. But there is also a difference. To project a three-dimensional image, Apple engineers propose using not a real object, but a substance with a photorefractive effect. The infrared radiation incident on it passes into the visible spectrum, forming a primary three-dimensional image. The device, created by Apple engineers, supports gesture control thanks to a built-in sensor system.

And this year a long-awaited event took place - the world's first smartphone with a holographic display was presented. In any case, this is what its manufacturer claims. The Takee phone was developed by Chinese research and development company Shenzhen Estar Technology. But the development is actually very similar to the Amazon Fire Phone model, released earlier and offering the ability to adapt the image on the screen depending on the user’s viewing angle. However, according to the manufacturer, they went a little further with their smartphone. It uses eye tracking sensors located above the screen. A stereoscopic image is created using the projection of external sensors directly onto the retina of the viewer's eyes, while the latter can turn his gaze away from the screen and still see a three-dimensional image.

Thus, the Takee smartphone screen makes it possible not only to see a three-dimensional image, but also to view it from different angles. To be fair, it should be noted that the Chinese development is just ordinary 3D technology, supplemented with eye tracking sensors. The display supports a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. In addition to the screen, the innovative smartphone has the following characteristics - MediaTek 6592T processor, two gigabytes RAM and 13 megapixel Sony camera Exmor RS. The device runs Android OS. Several smartphone applications are already available that allow you to play 3D games.

It is obvious that that longevity is approaching at the moment, when we will be able to see TVs, tablets and monitors that create a full-fledged holographic image. In addition, in the near future, holographic screen technology may find application in navigation systems, business industry and education. Also, holographic images simply cannot pass by the field of gaming entertainment, providing the creation of three-dimensional, virtual worlds with unusually realistic images.

One of the areas of application of holography is pictorial holography. This is an attempt to comprehend some shapes or objects by displaying them in three dimensions. Artists have always tried to somehow display three-dimensionality in their works. Human eyes perceive volume very interestingly, and therefore for a person a three-dimensional object has always been a certain element distinctive from the pictorial series. But all artificial images created by man were two-dimensional. There is also a sculpture, but it is just a three-dimensional object. And creating the illusion of three dimensions was a dream. And then the areas that are now called stereo photography, or multi-angle photography, began to develop, where you can look at an object from different angles and see its volume.

Unlike these areas, the hologram immediately recorded three-dimensional images. It's very natural for her. Holographic exhibitions were very popular in the 1970s. A lot of people came, there were queues here, in Minsk, and in the United States. There were full houses to watch art holography- fine holography. The most unfortunate limitation of this process was that it was impossible to convey the dynamics in these three-dimensional paintings.

Scientists have tried to come up with animation methods when recording holograms. And microcinema appeared, where it was possible, moving near the hologram, to see how the object that was recorded on this hologram was developing. For example, blooming flowers: if you take a hologram of them at a certain interval, then, unfolding the process of flower development in space, you can see a three-dimensional picture of how the flower has changed over time. That is, the movement towards the movie-holographic has always existed. But a person would like something similar to a TV, because everyone is already used to it.

Electronic means of displaying information allow you to change the picture very quickly. It's very democratic because they are not that expensive. And holographic cinema turned out to be very expensive. The display equipment was all very complex. And here a problem arises: there are no recording media for dynamic holography. And part of the search results for these environments has now been allocated to an area called a holographic display.

Holographic displays most often refer to images that are not holographic. In Star Wars, you see some holograms of people moving somewhere in space. But there is no holography there really. There is no holography when they make some kind of camera attachments for photography. Holography is when a three-dimensional image is displayed in free space, while the two-dimensional medium remains as the information carrier, that is, ordinary photographic film, digital storage medium, multiple recording of the image, and then synthesis into a three-dimensional image.

How does a holographic display work? First of all, we need a light source with a very good quality- three lasers. In order for a person to have a complete color representation, he needs three RGB lasers. The next necessary element is a lighting system to convert the light source from the laser to the desired format and then illuminate the modulator. And now several elements can be used as modulators for a holographic display. Yes LCoS is a technology Liquid Crystal on Silicon. This is a development of liquid crystal displays, but applied to microelectronics, because everything is done on the basis of a silicon substrate: a display is integrated there, it turns out to be efficient and high-resolution, and such a display can be used.

And the next element needed optics, which could transform this rather small image and project it into required format. And the optics can also be holographic. But what will be characteristic of such optics? Each laser will interact with its own optical element, with its own part of the optical system, because wavelength selectivity is very important in holography. If we do something non-selective, a rainbow and a lot of interfering images will immediately form on any optical element.

Of course, sometimes they are used. Rainbow holography, that is, stickers, shows a rainbow in one coordinate, and a three-dimensional image is visible in the other. But they have limited functionality. Therefore, to overcome this, you need optical elements that only interact with their laser. For example, a holographic lens for red light will only interact with red light. Same for other lenses. Holographic screens are the same lenses that match the beams that should reach the viewer with the beams formed on this microdisplay.

And then a very important thing: the higher the quality of the displayed information, the more high-resolution displays should be used for holography. And what’s more, the display resolution is ahead of what we see. Holography generally has the following property: to reflect some information, the number of pixels and samples that must be encoded in the information source must be twice as large. That is, the resolution of microdisplays is greater than the resolution that we see in a holographic image. And this is a basic thing. That is, holography must have redundancy, greater resolution, something that we want to see in the image. And this is where technological difficulties arise.

Where it is impossible to make one display both high-resolution and the right size, opticians come up with image multiplication schemes, where each part of the image is displayed on its own microdisplay. The optical system converts individual images into one synthesized image. And a person can move around this holographic image and see it quite well. But in order for this system to be operational, all elements must be high-tech so that they can be integrated into a small volume, because potentially they can be generally planar, that is, they can be interfaced with planar microelectronics technology.

On the other hand, all optical elements that are created for holography are made on flat substrates. This is very important, because the entire element base of modern optics is designed for the fact that you have some kind of optical volumetric element. It is voluminous, and it needs to be polished, and an anti-reflective or, conversely, reflective coating for this element must be very precisely produced. And for holography, all possible elements are manufactured in approximately the same way - the holographic method. Every time we record an element, we modify the recording schemes. That is, we make some specialized settings on our devices to record a specific image or a specific wavefront. This takes some time, but the development of robotics allows us to hope that all this will be automated, and the process of switching from one record to another will be simplified.

When the general direction of “holographic display” developed, it gave birth to very interesting applications of displays, which showed that it was possible to do applied, simpler things that were very necessary, for example, displaying information for pilots or drivers against the background of the windshield. The key element of these display systems is a combining device for an external source of information and for a local one. In English it's called beam combined, when you combine an image of the world around you with a local source of information. And as a combining element, the hologram turned out to be very useful, since it is transparent.

Unlike optical elements, a lens or a mirror, the entire wavefront, all the light, is transformed within the volume of glass or on the mirror, and a hologram can separate this. It transforms part of it, and part of it turns out to be unused. This is the so-called undiffracted light. This property of holograms turned out to be key to the creation of HMDs ( head-mounted display) - displays that are mounted on the head. Also for pilots and motorists there is head-up display, that is, the display that is directly in front of you. They are very convenient because they allow you not to be distracted from your surroundings in order, for example, to read some service information from the device.

This new field has placed holographic optical elements in a very important position. This is a key element for HMD, because all other elements are inferior to the hologram in terms of the discreetness of the display itself.

The second application of holographic optical elements is the construction of a three-dimensional image with offset. What is it? This is a hologram from which the image seems to stick out. That is, it is not behind the screen, but right in front of you, an image emerges from the hologram, and for some displays this is simply necessary. For example, for doctors, when they are analyzing some kind of surgical operation, where they need to know exactly what happened. And if you have a hologram behind glass, then it’s very difficult to get in there. But it is possible to construct an image in front of the hologram. And this is very useful, because in this way we can somehow introduce feedback. And for some professions feedback very important because it's like tactile sensitivity.

And in all these cases, holography helps. Firstly, it helps because it makes holographic screens - they are unnoticeable and do not interfere. And secondly, part of the optical information processing that is done for such displays is also holography, only a digital hologram. Complete emulation of the propagation of light and its interaction with the recording medium, how light interferes with each other - all this is emulated electronically on a computer. And the result of this calculation can be displayed as a digital hologram on a storage medium and displayed. Holographic and optical elements are also very important at this display stage.

To fully utilize the qualities of three-dimensional images, it is better to illuminate them with a laser, which requires specific illuminators. And for any mobile devices These illuminators should be as compact as possible. And here the holography also says: “We can do it.” And researchers in their works show that holographic illuminators are much more compact than conventional, traditional illuminators, lens or mirror. They are flat and quite effective. And they open up a way for the laser to enter our world by directly displaying information, because all we mostly see now are LEDs or stereo systems that use traditional light sources. And for holographic displays, a laser is a fundamental thing. It allows you to unlock most of the advantages of optical processing of 3D information.

We are approaching the same task from different angles - creating a holographic display for mass use. And if you look at advanced conferences, holographic displays are already a separate section. And many solutions and works demonstrate that successes are about to lead to a breakthrough.

I would like to end with optimism, because holography is now a place where you can apply your creative powers. This is science: it has its own laws, achievements, prejudices. But the area is developing very quickly and it is open, especially to young people. And I hope that holography in all its diversity (digital, holography for integrated optics, holography for displays) - all this will develop very quickly in the near future, because the basic elements already exist. You just need to creatively collect them and get a new quality.

The first hologram was obtained by the Hungarian physicist Denes Gabor in 1947 during experiments to increase the resolution of electron microscopes. He came up with the word “hologram”, wanting to emphasize full recording optical properties of the object. Denesh was a little ahead of his time: his holograms were of poor quality due to the use of gas-discharge lamps. After the invention of ruby ​​red and helium-neon lasers in 1960, holography began to develop rapidly. In 1968, Soviet scientist Yuri Nikolaevich Denisyuk developed a scheme for recording holograms on transparent photographic plates and obtained high-quality holograms. And 11 years later, Lloyd Cross created a multiplex hologram consisting of several dozen angles, each of which can be seen from only one angle. How a modern holographic display works—we’ll talk about it in today’s episode!

The main photographic material for recording holograms is special photographic plates based on traditional silver bromide, which allow achieving a resolution of more than 5000 lines per millimeter. Photographic plates based on bichromated gelatin, which have greater resolution, are also used. When using them, up to 90% of the incident light is converted into an image, which allows you to record very bright holograms. Media based on holographic photopolymer materials are also being actively developed. This multicomponent mixture of organic substances is applied in the form of a thin film onto a glass or film substrate.

HoloVisio brand displays from the Hungarian company Holografika already exist on the market. The essence of their technology is to project an image using two dozen narrowly directed projectors, due to which the image is laid out in space deep into the display. The complexity of this technology affects the price: the cost of a 72-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels is about 500 thousand dollars.

It is quite possible that in the near future holographic screens will become more accessible and will be widely used.

The 4V effect will only appear in optimized materials

Last July we first talked about the Red Hydrogen One smartphone. His description seemed quite unusual. Here you have a kind of holographic display, the ability to connect modules, and a titanium frame on the older model. It looked like it was just another scam startup. However, this is a Red company, so fraud is out of the question.

Hydrogen One should hit shelves in August, although those who pre-order should supposedly receive their smartphones earlier.

Today, Engadget published an article describing its journalist's impressions of using a pre-production sample of Hydrogen One. The first thing worth noting is the fact that Red prohibited photographing the device from the front. This is due to the fact that the photographs will not convey the holographic effect, and the company does not want potential buyers disappointed in the smartphone, limiting themselves to only viewing photos.

The source's journalist himself describes the display as impressive. The 4V effect, which will only appear in adapted materials, is said to be very different from what was previously on the market. The effect is not lost when the gaze deviates from the ideal angle, which was inherent in previous similar developments.

The effect is partly created thanks to a substrate made of a special material located under the screen, but there are no special details about this. It can appear in videos, games, and even apps if they are optimized accordingly. One might think that such a condition would put an end to the technology, but Red is already collaborating with Lionsgate, which will adapt its films for Hydrogen One. The process is reported to be quite simple.

As for the modules, there is not much clarity with them yet. The head of Red said that he does not want the smartphone to have bad modules, so the company is carefully approaching this issue. Red is currently negotiating with at least one potential partner who will develop modules.

All news for today

• 08:57 20 Pan Jiutang: Huawei takes better pictures than Samsung, and Xiaomi's wallpapers are worse than those of its competitors. Pan Jiutang does not hesitate to criticize Xiaomi products
• 08:02 17 The main menu of the PlayStation 5 using the example of the expected game The Last of Us Part II. The submenu shows basic statistics such as game time, trophy progress, SSD space usage
• 07:36 74 This is how the royal camera Huawei P40 Pro turned out to be. The smartphone will have two telephoto cameras, one will provide 3x optical zoom, and the second will be responsible for 10x optical zoom
• 07:17 7 Affordable 5G smartphone Vivo Z6 goes on sale. It costs a little over $300
• 02:04

Holograms are the future. At least, this is what Hollywood filmmakers believe, filling their science-fiction films with translucent interfaces floating in the air. Like the ones on the spaceships in Passengers and Avatar.

True, for now we can see three-dimensional graphics only on movie screens using 3D glasses or . But Brooklyn-based startup Look Glass has created a device that brings us one step closer to full-fledged 3D reality without the need for additional gadgets.

Take a look at this. It may seem that in front of you is just a glass aquarium containing an incomprehensible red thing. But in fact, this is a display, and the object inside is a picture drawn by it. The Looking Glass uses innovative technology: it creates 45 different images of the same three-dimensional object, rotated at different angles, and then combines them through a special holographic lens. The result is the impression that you are seeing a real three-dimensional object.

Such a device will be incredibly useful for 3D graphics creators, game developers, industrial designers and engineers. The Looking Glass is compatible with programs such as Maya, Zbrush, Blender, Tinkercad and Solidworks. It allows you to view the results of your work right in the process. And besides, you can interact with the image as with an ordinary material thing. To do this, you can connect a Leap Motion Controller handheld tracker, an Intel Realsense camera, or a game controller such as Nintendo's Joy Con.

In the future, such technology may become popular among both gamers and ordinary consumers of digital content. Agree, it would be interesting to play something or watch movies on such a screen. With Looking Glass, in order to view the action from some angle, you just need to move to another corner of the room.

To operate the display you will need a computer with a processor of at least Intel Core i5, 4 GB and graphics card Nvidia GTX 1060 minimum, as well as with an HDMI port for displaying images and USB-C for power. The display will come in two sizes: an 8.9-inch model for $600 and a 15.9-inch model for $3,000.

You can purchase a smaller version of The Looking Glass on Kickstarter for $400. Estimated delivery time is December.