Hi! A bit about myself: I am a 38-year old guy, originally from Germany. In the early nineties, during high school, I was obsessed with the idea of making my own holograms. I got my hands on a copy of the Holography Handbook by Unterseher, Schlesinger and Hansen, and must have read it several times over. This is a very good and important book, but paradoxically it had the effect that it discouraged me from trying to make my own holograms. Buying the necessary components, setting up a darkroom and sand table, was simply not feasible for me at the time.
About ten years later, around 2000, I finally could make my own first hologram. I took a course on holography in a Technical College in Berlin, Germany, and learned a lot there. That lab was state-of-the-art: mechanically isolated room (!), optical table on airflow that must have cost gigadollars, lasers and all the optical elements, darkroom equipment and slides, film and chemicals you could want. They even had a pulse laser for taking live images. It was a dream come true and finally I had created my own hologram. But again, this actually discouraged me from taking holography up as a hobby because it was completely unthinkable to me, to even attempt reproducing the vibration-free conditions from the lab. Even with this top-notch equipment, vibrations could still be an issue! How could I even dream of trying this in my apartment room?
Forward more than another decade later, now. I thought about making holograms once in a while, especially that laser pointers have gotten so cheap and I couldn't see any reason why a laser pointer wouldn't be sufficient for making holograms. But what about vibrations?! I read about the litiholo and integraf kits. Woah! Apparently you don’t need a 1-ton sandbox, or a 10K-US$ airflow table! Can it be true?
I would like to give this a try. Nowadays I live in Japan, it's difficult for me to get equipment here but I want to import the standard kit with 30 plates from integraf, this will cost me about 250$ including shipping. Do you think this is a good choice? (I also read about the litiholo kit but I am not interested, because apparently you can’t make white-light-visible holograms with that one, which is something I want to do. Also, I simply don’t trust this self-developing chemistry.).
My main worry is of course vibration (and the toxicity of the developer chemicals). Let me tell you about the apartment I live in here in Yokohama. It is the mother of vibration! It's in the 11th floor, next to one of the most busy train lines between Yokohama and Tokyo; every time a train rolls by, the entire building shakes! There are even freight trains in the middle of the night. Also the entire apartment complex is typical Japanese concrete architecture, it's shaky by design!
My main question is, do I even stand a snowballs chance in hell of making real holograms in my apartment - without sand box or airflow table, but with a rather minimalist setup? Are there any techniques how I can assess vibration, or check when the apartment/optical "table" (I envision a small granite plate on inflated tube, or something like that) is in a vibration-free state? I can not build a sand table like in Unterseher's book, it's still not practical. My budget is rather limited, the 250$ for the integraf standard kit would basically exhaust it for first experiments.
Would love to hear your opinions, what a good starter kit is, and especially regarding vibrations and how to fight them considering that I live in an extreme environment vibration-wise. I'd also love to get in contact with holographers in the Tokyo/Yokohama area. Thanks!
Self-introduction and some questions
Self-introduction and some questions
Yes, you can make white light reflection holograms with the Litiholo 'self developing' film/plates. Just be aware though that they seem to vastly under estimate the laser power required to get even reasonably short exposures.(I also read about the litiholo kit but I am not interested, because apparently you can’t make white-light-visible holograms with that one, which is something I want to do. Also, I simply don’t trust this self-developing chemistry.).
-
Dinesh
Self-introduction and some questions
I doubt very much even Liti will work if your environment is so bad. You have to be still to within the width of a hair over the period of the hologram, which for Liti is a few minutes at least. This was a common problem in the 80's for a lot of city holographers. They usually worked very late at night when it was quiet.
As for holography in Japan, I'd suggest you look up Professor Hiroshi Yoshikawa at Nihon University. He researches in computer generated holography, but I'm sure he can help you find other holographers in Japan.
As for holography in Japan, I'd suggest you look up Professor Hiroshi Yoshikawa at Nihon University. He researches in computer generated holography, but I'm sure he can help you find other holographers in Japan.
-
Dinesh
Self-introduction and some questions
Here is a link to Professor Yoshikawa's talk at ISDH on Holography in Japan: http://river-valley.tv/media/conference ... Yoshikawa/