Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

This is a forum to share experiences and ideas about holography.
Glenn

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by Glenn »

I've been meaning to get around to this...
Anyway. I can say for certain that I have never made a hologram, nor have I seen anything other than a rainbow hologram in person (but T/holograms on youtube look neat). I'm in this because of the interesting phase property of light. Holographic film allows interesting things to be done with light on a spacial and phase basis, and this means there is tremendous potential across all spheres of consumer and product lines of development, from the storage of information to display technology. Seeing the secondary role holography currently plays makes me wonder why there aren't greater energies involved in photonic research in this area.
Too much Hollywood. Not enough research lab.
I hope this partially explains to you guys why I'm always posting those "How do you make a UV hologram" threads...
a_k

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by a_k »

It was unpolite not to introduce myself earlier, sorry. My areas of expertise are information systems and electronics. I'm interested in chemistry, photography, lasers, holography, music, nature, travelling, building and flying RC models and many other things.

My interest in holography began in 1978. In that period i spent a lot of time at a universities computer center and library. In that library there were some 20 books about holography. One of those books was a catalog with many holograms in it. Those were the first holograms i saw. I was so impressed by them, that i immediately took half of the books home, read them and tried to understand how it was possible that a flat sheet could contain so realistic looking images.

Two years later i visited a holography exhibition in London and was extremely impressed about the holograms. I bought my first hologram there (4th Dimension, showing some sea creature). This exhibition made me want to make my own holograms. Luckily at my school there was a lab that i was using for b/w photography already and i was allowed to use the 2mW HeNe Laser, and the optics needed. During about a year i tried many of the stuff that i had only been reading about before, the limiting factor being the costs for the Agfa films and plates. During that time i upgraded to my own used 5mW HeNe laser.

Later on other things became very time consuming and it took almost 30 years to revive my interest for holography. During that time i made two attempts of getting back to holography. At one occasion i had bought a He-Ne laser with the intent of making holograms but got absorbed with other stuff. Later i had many Slavich plates but no laser.

Finally, about a year ago i discovered the holographyforum and spent quite some time reading all that interesting stuff. A couple of months ago i started coating MBDCG plates and using a 655nm LD. Around that time i became acquainted with Martin. I owe a lot to his huge support.

34 MBDCG mixtures and 9 gelatine sorts later i still haven't managed to get a sensitivity of 50mJ/cm2. The biggest difficulty is finding a usable gelatine. Now that i have some TMG i'll go on with MBDCG and also try Zhu's Panchromatic DCG.

A couple of days ago i tried und very surprisingly had a success with a 405nm LD and DCG plates. 2mJ/cm2 with DCG was an experience i had not been expecting really. Right now, i'm waiting for some violet LD's to arrive so i can replace the dead one and go on testing them.

There are some electronics projects for tools to be used for holography that i'm trying to allocate time and energy for.

Ahmet
Colin Kaminski

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by Colin Kaminski »

Ahmet, It is good to see you posting. I always look foward to reading your input.
Lea

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by Lea »

Hi all,
I'm an architecture/design student mostly interested in three dimensional media, but always eager to learn a new process. I was intrigued by the various lo-fi and DIY holography methods documented here and on the wiki, and since I have access this semester to a darkroom and alternative photographic process supplies, and I figure I'll give it a shot. Thanks for documenting and sharing your processes!
-Lea
JohnFP

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by JohnFP »

Welcome aboard. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. We love to help!!!
MfA

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by MfA »

I'm an EE, I've seen large holograms at exhibitions but I must admit what I find attractive in holograms is more the potential applications of cheap computer generated holograms than the aesthetics of current optical holograms. I've recently read a paper which produced rather stunning reconstructions inside a computer of incredibly low resolution holograms (it did this by simply making the objects and hologram smaller in relation to the wavelength of light) and I can't escape the feeling that similar reconstructions from low resolution fringes have to be possible in reality with creative use of optics. So I'm looking around what's out there at the moment.

I realise there is a slight disconnect from the majority of the forum participants here, but the web isn't exactly brimming with holography forums ;)
rzeheb

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by rzeheb »

Hi Folks,
Been lurking on this site for a few months, reading and learning. What a great resource (thanks Colin)!
I've been interested in lasers and holography since I was a kid. However, school then family then career have a way of taking priority (lack of cash can be a factor too). So now career is starting to level off, or even slow down, and I find I have a bit more time to explore the things that interest me. Besides lasers/holography those things include geology, caving, scuba and hiking. I re-kindled my interest in holography when I obtained a large-frame argon laser. As it turns out, it was useless for holography, but it got me going nevertheless. My first holograms were made with a green laser pointer (the Jasper curve). It turns out that particular pointer makes pretty decent holograms and seems to have a coherence distance of about 10 inches give or take.... who'd have thunk it? I have now moved up to a JDS Uniphase microgreen. Pedal to the metal it give me 50 milliwatts. Just starting to play with that and still using VRP-M plates and JD-2 developer from Integraf. Well, that's about it by way of introduction. I intend to start posting some questions pretty soon. Hopefully, I won't be asking about to many things that have already been asked and answered over the years.

All the best to everyone on the Forum and a happy St. Patty's day to all.

Ron
Thieu

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by Thieu »

Hi all,

Let me introduce myself as well. My name is Thieu Asselbergs and I live in the Netherlands. I work as a scientist/engineer at one of our universities. My interest in holography started when I was about 10 years old and saw a promotional hologram of some dental equipment. Of course I was fascinated and soon I wanted to make holograms myself. Because I didn't have any recipes for making silver halide plates and because the local pharmacist sold dichromates (in a paper bag, weighing them on the same scale the candy was weighed!) , I decided DCG was the way to go. But how does one get a green laser in the pre-DPSS age? I called the Dutch Holographic Laboratory and got Walter Spierings on the phone. I asked him if he sold argon lasers and of course he was very amused, especially after he heard my age. He told me it was possible to buy one, but it would probably mean my dad would have to sell his car. Unfortunately my dad didn't think that was a very good idea... :-)

In highschool, I gained access to more literature and made the wise decision to abandon the dicromates and start trying to make holograms on the Agfa plates. I built a sandtable in a storage room of my school and soon made my first holograms. After finishing highschool, I moved to another city to study physics. In my small student room there was obviously no space for a sandtable, so I stopped making holograms.

But the desire to start again never went away. I had read about DCG in the holography handbook, and the extreme brightness of DCG holograms kept me dreaming about making them myself one day. When I found out a couple of months ago that violet laser diodes had become readily and cheaply available I started to consider giving it a try. After seeing Ahmet's encouraging results with these diodes I finally did. He gave me a lot of advice (thanks again!) and after ordering the chemicals my first holograms on DCG were made.

In the end the violet diodes seem to have less favourable characteristics in terms of coherence length, so even though they rekindled my interest, I don't use them anymore. I only use a green pointer now. I'm happy with the results I got so far on DCG, but they aren't anywhere near repeatable yet. I'm now working on trying to improve on this by means of better climate control. My latest purchase has been a hygrostat, I hope it'll help in this regard.

I want to thank everyone on this forum for generously sharing their knowledge, in addition to Ahmet's advice it has helped me a lot. I'm determined to contribute my part as well, especially in helping people make their first DCG holograms.

Thieu
Joe Farina

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by Joe Farina »

Welcome, good to have another DCG'er aboard!
Ed Wesly

Introductions - Everyone please chime in!

Post by Ed Wesly »

I would guess everyone here knows me to some degree, but why I am posting is that I have been reading the old Network 54 posts, and a gentleman named Holodisc had some very interesting insights. He has a link to a profile on Yahoo, Jonathon D is what he goes by, but does anyone know what became of him? Or Holodisc, could you please pop in again and tell us what you've been up to?
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