'Not at all FLAT!-Electronic Holographic Displays'

The generation of interactive holographic displays was long believed to be beyond the reach of any foreseeable computational or display technologies. Over the past few years, we have shown how holographic images can be computed on graphics workstations, and displayed with laser-illuminated acousto-optical modulators. Bringing these technologies to the laptop with flat screens presents new challenges, and very timely ones. The large pixel count required of a hologram suggests that a no-moving-part display, such as an LCD screen, is a long way from realization. However, such displays are very insensitive to pixel failures, and do not require high pixel contrast to produce high-contrast images. Our work with edge-lit holograms suggests that compact and satisfying holographic displays ought to be possible with plausible extensions of spatial light modulator technology.