Researchers have developed a nano-hologram that can be viewed without 3D spectacles and may be included into daily electronics such as computers, smartphones, and TVs.

Interactive 3D holograms are an inspiration of science fiction, right from Avatar to Star Wars; but the difficulty for researchers attempting to convert them into actuality is producing holograms that are slim enough to operate with modern electronics.

Now, scientists led by Australia’s RMIT University have developed a nano-hologram that is easy to create, can be viewed without 3D spectacles, and is 1,000 x slimmer when compared to a human hair. “Traditional holograms that are computer-generated in nature are too large for electronic gadgets but our ultra slim hologram conquers those size obstacles,” said a Professor at RMIT, Min Gu. “Our nano-hologram is also designed employing an easy and quick-direct laser writing system, which turns our design appropriate for major uses and crowd manufacture,” Gu claimed.

Putting together holography into daily electronics would turn screen size inappropriate; a pop-up 3D hologram can give a view to a huge ocean of data that does not efficiently fit on a watch or phone. “From education to medical diagnostics, cyber security & defense, and data storage, 3D holography has the latent to modify a variety of industries and this study carries that revolution one step nearer,” Gu claimed.

Traditional and old holograms adjust the phase of light to offer the illusion of the depth of the three dimensions. On the other hand, to make enough shifts of phase, those holograms require being at the thickness similar to that of optical wavelengths. The team of RMIT University, operating in China with the Beijing Institute of Technology, has busted this limit of thickness with a 25 Nanometer hologram on the basis of a topological material that can act as an insulator as well; this novel topological insulator quantum material has the refractive index as low as freezing point of water in the surface layer but has an ultrahigh refractive index in the bulk.

The topological insulator slim film plays the role of an intrinsic resonant optical cavity, which can improve the shifts of phase for the sole purpose of holographic imaging.