Carbon Nanotubes Form Smallest Pixels for 3D Holographic Imaging

The holograms we have seen for the past 50 years have at once fascinated and disappointed us. If we had been hoping to see something along the lines of the projected image of Princess Leia from Star Wars, or the holodeck from Star Trek Next Generation, disappointment would likely have overwhelmed our sense of fascination.

Two years ago researchers at the University of Arizona for the first time “demonstrated an optical material that can display “holographic video,” as opposed to static holograms found in credit cards and product packages.” Since then it seemed our hopes for holograms have been getting brighter.

Now researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics (CMMPE) have used carbon nanotubes to create 3D hologram images with an extremely wide field of view and the highest possible resolution. [read more..]