In April 2021, Scientific Reports and the January 2021 Nature new technology is touted. The so-called optical trap display makes 3D holograms possible. The visuals develop when a particle is trapped in the air and moves into contour a shape. All calculations consider the flicker rate of an eye. This means the image has to be virtually redrawn about 10 times a second to maintain consistency.
Mastering light is what 3D technology is all about. And the Brigham Young University (BYU) holography research group is making photon-colored lightsabers of the Star Wars variety. They can also make holograms appear out of thin air.
Optical trap display makes holograms
Inspired by the images of science fiction, BYU professor of electrical engineering Dan Smalley describes how his team can engineer battles between the Starship Enterprise and a Klingon Bird-of-Prey Battle Cruiser.
“What you’re seeing in the scenes we create is real; there is nothing computer-generated about them,” said Smalley. “This is not like the movies, where the lightsabers or the photon torpedoes never really existed in physical space. These are real, and if you look at them from any angle, you will see them existing in that space.”
