Holograms become real: startup creates objects from light and air

Holograms. Virtually every science fiction movie and TV show of the past 50 years has some version of this futuristic technology. A realistic 3D object made up of nothing more than light, usually hovering over a table or interacting with our heroes, simply shouts “This is the future!”

After countless disappointing versions of the technology, a startup called Light Field Lab began producing technology called SolidLight, designed to produce actual holograms. The promise is essentially The Star Trek holodeck, minus the tactility and murderer Moriartys (hopefully). This is how it works.

What is a hologram (and what it isn’t)

Maybe you are thinking “Damn, I’ve seen holograms for years!” Well, yes and no. The vast majority of visual effects called “holograms” are not. For example, if you’ve ever experienced the haunted ride in a Disney park, the dancing ghosts are neither real ghosts (sorry, spoiler) nor holograms. They use a technique called “Pepper’s ghost” which dates back to the early 1800s. This is also how Tupac performed “live” on stage 16 years after his death.

No holograms either? The rotating LED image makers that were everywhere at CES a few years ago. 3D, VR, and AR screens all look like holograms, but not the real thing. Same Looking Glass 3D frames are not holograms, they are autostereoscopic, aka 3d without glasses, the same technology as that of the Nintendo 3DS.

What we all want when we think of “holograms” is something that seems to appear in space, just like a real object would. Not something confined inside a special small screen, visible only from a narrow angle. Ideally, we want a holodeck, or at least Princess Leia asking Obi-wan for help.

So. Numerous. Pixels

Light Field Lab’s SolidLight technology looks like science fiction. Their company basically aims to recreate real-world objects with light, much like a sci-fi holodeck. The physics of how they aim to make this work is actually pretty straightforward. Well, simple in concept, certainly not simple in execution.

Essentially, they cause the interaction of light waves at a specific point, and this interaction is visible to your eyes. By doing this a lot, they can create the illusion of an entire object “made” of light.

And when I say a lot I mean a lot. Their 28 inch diagonal panel has 2.5 billion pixels. For comparison, a 4K TV has 8.2 million. They envision holographic video walls made up of these smaller panels, with over 245 billion pixels.

These pixels are much more complex than those on your phone or TV screen. They are able to precisely manipulate the phase of light waves so that the interactions of these waves create the holographic effect. Standard LCD or OLED pixels just need to create red, green and blue. The pixels in SolidLight must create specific colors at a specific location in front of the screen so that the image appears to come off the screen.

Some of you may be familiar with Yamaha’s Intellibeam audio technology, which uses a range of tweeters to make the sound appear to be coming from anywhere in the room except the soundbar. It’s essentially the same thing, just on a microscopic scale since light waves are orders of magnitude smaller than the air molecules that make up sound waves.

Your field of view with the SolidLight screen is basically whatever your field of view with the screen. That is, if you look at the 180 degree screen from the side, you don’t see the hologram. It’s not quite that level of magic (yet). There must always be an imaginary line between your eye and the screen for the hologram to appear in between.

What makes SolidLight interesting is that you don’t need special glasses for it to work, or be directly in front of the screen. You can still be at an angle, and no matter how much of your eye’s field of view the SolidLight screen fills, you will see the hologram.

And because the technology is scalable, you could have a much bigger screen and much bigger holograms. Imagine wall-sized holographic screens and how they could be a game-changer for entertainment. Forget VR headsets, how about VR rooms. You could have an entire room with SolidLight screens on all four walls, floor, and ceiling, and you would pretty much have a holodeck. Or at least as close as modern technology can get.

This sort of thing should be possible eventually, but for now the company’s technology goals are a little more realistic. They aim to create holographic screens ranging from the desk to the wall. The latter will be the most impressive, I think. Holographic and interactive walls for meetings and collaboration, or to impress visitors to company offices.

Computer, end program

Silicon Valley is full of random startups that sort of get capital, but Light Field Lab investors are like a serious tech who’s who, including Samsung, Comcast, and Verizon. Their company has already sold pre-orders, that is, it’s not all theoretical, they actually build them.

History is also replete with companies claiming holography and upcoming holodeck-style technology, but SolidLight has some fascinating physics that could be the breakthrough holograms need to be mainstream.

Will it be your next TV, or even your next, next TV? No. But you should start seeing these screens in the real world as early as next year. They are already in pre-production, with hopes of going into mass production soon for a variety of sizes.