Color holography: its history, state-of-the-art, and future

Abstract

The first methods for recording color holograms were established in the early 1960s. Leith and Upatnieks proposed multicolor wavefront reconstmction and Denisyuk introduced the single-beam reflection holography technique which is most suitable for recording color holograms today. Reviewed is the history of color holography highlighting important milestones. The current state-of-the-art of color holography is presented including the recording techniques using red, green and blue laser wavelengths. The laser wavelength selection issue is presented using computer simulation, showing that more than three wavelengths may be needed for accurate color rendition in holograms. The recording material is a key factor very important for creating high-quality color holograms. Covered are both the demand on the material and suitable products currently on the market. The future of color holography is highly dependent on the availability of improved panchromatic recording materials and suitable light sources for displaying the holograms. Small laser diodes as well as powerful white LEDs and OLEDs with very limited source diameters are important for color holography to become an important 3D display medium.