Star Wars holograms moves a step closer: Researchers reveal highest quality 'floating' images ever seen

The device creates the highest quality holographic images ever achieved
It's made of millions of tiny silicon pillars, each 500 times thinner than a hair
It could have a wide range of applications, including replacing heavy components in cameras and even even making space missions cheaper

Published: 16:47 EST, 25 January 2017 | Updated: 16:53 EST, 25 January 2017

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Researchers have created a Star Wars inspired hologram device that creates the highest quality holographic images ever achieved.

The device is made of millions of tiny silicon pillars, each up to 500 times thinner than a human hair.

It could have a wide range of applications, including replacing heavy components to miniaturise cameras and even even making space missions cheaper by reducing the size of optical systems on space craft.

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The hologram device is made of millions of tiny silicon pillars, each up to 500 times thinner than a human hair. Pictured here is concept artwork of the holographic image the researchers created

Mr Lei Wang, the lead researcher of the study and PhD student at the Australian National University's (ANU) Research School of Physics and Engineering, said his device was inspired by the Star Wars movies.

'As a child, I learned about the concept of holographic imaging from the Star Wars movies. It's really cool to be working on an invention that uses the principles of holography depicted in those movies,' said Wang.

In 1977 Princess Leia famously sent a holographic message to Obi Wan Kenobi, pleading for him for help. Since that moment in Episode IV - A New Hope, 3D holograms have remained in the realm of science fiction

Mr Wang said he and his team created the holographic images in infrared with an invention that could be developed in the industry.

Holograms manipulate light in a complex way.

They store and reproduce all the information carried by light in 3D.

Standard photos and computer screen, by contrast, only capture and display a portion of 2D information.

Picture (b) shows an electron microscope image of the hologram device's surface. The kangaroo in (c) was the image the researchers wanted to create, and the kangaroo in (d) is the real hologram the researchers managed to create

Mr Wang wants to apply the new technology in ways that are more practical than Star Wars style holograms.

'While research in holography plays an important role in the development of futuristic displays and augmented reality devices, today we are working on many other applications such as ultra-thin and light-weight optical devices for cameras and satellites,' said Mr Wang.

Dr Sergey Kruk, from the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering and who co-lead the study, said: 'This new material is transparent, which means it loses minimal energy from the light, and it also does complex manipulations with light.

'Our ability to structure materials at the nanoscale allows the device to achieve new optical properties that go beyond the properties of natural materials.

'The holograms that we made demonstrate the strong potential of this technology to be used in a range of applications.'

The research, published in the journal Opitca, was also conducted in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States and Nanjing University in China.

ARE BLACK HOLES HOLOGRAMS?

The holographic principle claims gravity in the universe comes from thin, vibrating strings.

These strings are holograms of events that take place in a simpler, flatter cosmos.

The principle suggests that, like the security chip on your credit card, there is a two-dimensional surface that contains all the information needed to describe a three-dimensional object - which in this case is our universe.

The theory claims that data containing a description of a volume of space - such as a human or a comet - could be hidden in a region of this flattened, 'real' version of the universe.

In a black hole, for instance, all the objects that ever fall into it would be entirely contained in surface fluctuations, almost like a piece of computer memory on contained in a chip.

In a larger sense, the theory suggests that the entire universe can be seen as a 'two-dimensional structure projected onto a cosmological horizon' - or in simpler terms, a projection.