Safe to Touch 3D Laser Holograms Are Now a Reality

Touchable holograms are present in numerous science-fiction films and stories, but courtesy of a team of scientists in Japan, they are now very much real. The large holograms featured in Star Trek and Star Wars are still out of our reach, but we can settle for 3D laser holograms on a much smaller scale for now, especially since these are completely safe to touch. This is quite a breakthrough in the science world because even though this particular kind of laser was used previously in aerial plasma 3D graphics demonstrations, it was never really safe to be touched.

The hologram was created using a femtosecond laser that actually provides tactile feedback when a human comes in contact with its beams. The safety hazards were eliminated by reducing the duration of laser bursts and by using higher resolution femtoseconds. The hologram was created by a team from the Digital Nature Group, whose members created a demonstration video that clearly shows a finger touching the laser beams without being harmed. For now, the holograms can take on the shape of simple objects such as a little heart, a fairy and a star, but the technology can definitely be improved in order to support more complicated tasks such as aerial holographic interfaces. If you’d like to see some of the team’s femtosecond laser-based volumetric displays yourself, make sure to visit the Siggraph 2015 exhibition in August.

Thank you Yournewsoholic for providing us with this information.