I don’t know how I feel about this…maybe it’s because most of the holograms I’ve seen have been kind of funny brown-green colors, and viewable only from a limited angle.  But researchers have been making breakthroughs in holographic technology which could one day allow us to create holographic television.

 Dr. Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at University of Ariozon’s Optical Sciences Department (check out the stylish glasses the guy on the homepage is wearing) has said scentists have been able to make updateable three-dimensional displays with memory.  The ability to have a rewritable holographic medium is one of the first critical steps needed to make holographic television a reality.

For even more awsome images and graphics, as well as a ton of numbers that don’t make any sense, check out “Dynamic Holography for scientific uses, military heads up display and even someday HoloTV Using TI’s DMD“, a paper from the University of Texas Soutwestern Medical Center.  I dig the really high-tech holographic television coupled with images drawn in MS Paint with Clip Art helicopters.  Man I love Clip Art!

I could see how a HoloTV could be pretty sweet so long as the viewing angles were wide enough for people to sit around the living room and enjoy, and assuming that they made it so that there were accurate color representations on the screen…or in the air…or whatever it would be.  They’re a long way off it sounds like, so I’m sure they’ll work that kind of thing out before we ever see one of these hit the market.  

And who knows…once we have the TV, we might not be too far off from the Holodecks featured in Star Trek. Sweet!  


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