New approach to holographic video imaging: principles and simulations

Abstract

As the importance of 3-dimensional information displays in many fields increases, more attention is given to holographic displays. Different kinds of holographic displays are reported in the literature, but the resolution of the available display media is not sufficient to support the extraordinary spatial detail of holograms. In this paper, we propose a new acousto-optical holographic display device which solves significantly the display resolution and the refreshing problems that are common to available holographic displays. The technique is based on the reproduction of the hologram using traveling surface waves. The SAW device that is used as the medium of display has an array of electrodes attached to it. An electrical signal applied to one of these electrodes generates an acoustical wave propagating on the surface of the crystal where the electrodes are the sources. If signals are applied to all of the electrodes simultaneously, propagating waves from the electrodes superpose to form a time-varying surface field pattern on the crystal. This pattern, at a specific time, forms the hologram. The signals which should be applied to the electrodes, in order to have a specified field pattern on the crystal at a specified time instant are found through a mathematical inversion relation. The inversion relationship is derived from the underlying physics. Computer simulations of the proposed TV display show that the proposed system will work as desired. In addition, our preliminary studies show that the proposed system can be constructed with the available acoustical, optical, electronic technology, and with the application of digital signal processing techniques.