Hologram experts can now create real-life images that move in the air - EurekAlert

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Using lasers to create the displays of science fiction, inspired by Star Wars and Star Trek.

Inspired by the displays of science fiction, the researchers have also engineered battles between equally small versions of the Starship Enterprise and a Klingon Battle Cruiser that incorporate photon torpedoes launching and striking the enemy vessel that you can see with the naked eye.

Called optical trap displays, they're created by trapping a single particle in the air with a laser beam and then moving that particle around, leaving behind a laser-illuminated path that floats in midair; like a "a 3D printer for light.".

"Most 3D displays require you to look at a screen, but our technology allows us to create images floating in space -- and they're physical; not some mirage," Smalley said!

The work overcomes a limiting factor to optical trap displays: wherein this technology lacks the ability to show virtual images, Smalley and Rogers show it is possible to simulate virtual images by employing a time-varying perspective projection backdrop

Copyright © 2021 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Copyright © 2021 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)