The idea of a television, capable of rendering 3D holographic images is beyond my understanding.  Sure, I can imagine what it would look like, but to comprehend it ever happening, and how this would be achieved is way beyond me.  But it seems I may have to catch up, and fast, as these types of televisions could be commercially available in ten years time.  The future is quite definitely upon us.

The vast majority of people in the world now own a television – it’s one of the must-have gadgets along with a telephone and a radio.  But what we all currently experience is just a flat image on a screen.  As good as the new generation of high definition televisions are, they still can’t break out in to the third dimension and make us believe we are actually there.

This could all be about to change, as scientists, who have been working on creating holographic images for almost 20 years, have recently made a huge breakthrough.  Dr Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the University of Arizona’s Optical Sciences department, revealed to CNN that his team has “broken a barrier by making the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory.”

While that may seem like gobbledegook to you and me, what it means in reality is that there are now no barriers left to making 3D holographic television a reality.  Although displays can only be erased and rewritten in minutes, if this process can be improved upon, then a television-like 3D display which updates multiple times a second is possible.

Peyghambarian explained:

It took us a while to make that first breakthrough, but as soon as you have the first element of it working the rest often comes more rapidly.  What we are doing now is trying to make the model better.  What we showed is just one color, what we are doing now is trying to use three colors.

The original display was four inches by four inches and now we’re going for something at least as big as a computer screen. There are no more great barriers to overcome now.

These televisions may still be a way off, but how they will look is already being discussed.  The two possibilities seem to be a wall-mounted device with the image-writing lasers behind the wall, or a tabletop panel with the lasers embedded underneath.  Either way, it’ll mean your living room would be inhabited by 3D objects rather than the 2D ones we have to make do with presently.

The scientists behind the breakthrough are confident that the technology will be ready to come to market in five to ten years time, and while it is likely to  be used initially for commercial rather than entertainment purposes, it’s certainly possible to imagine a time when we’ll all own a 3D TV.  That Princess Leia trick will finally be possible.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 8:42 pm under Opinion, Technology.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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