A method for generating video holograms in real time for a holographic playback device comprising at least one light modulator means, into which a scene divided into object points is encoded as an entire hologram and can be seen as a reconstruction from a visibility region, which is located within a periodicity interval of the reconstruction of the video hologram, the visibility region defining a subhologram together with each object point of the scene to be reconstructed, and the entire hologram being generated from a superposition of contributions of subholograms, is characterized in that for each object point the contributions of the subholograms in the entire reconstruction of the scene can be determined from at least one look-up table.

Exemplary arrangements relate to methods for recording and reproducing holograms. A method of recording a hologram in a thresholded opto-magnetic medium (7) includes producing a collimated recording beam (1) with a pulsed laser. The intensity of the recording beam is selectively modulated by passage through a modulator (2). The recording beam is spatially shaped by passage through a shaping element (15). The shaped modulated recording beam is made convergent by passage through an aspheric lens (4). The convergent beam is deflected bidirectionally with a MEMS mirror (6) that is in operative connection with the modulator, such that multiple disposed locations on a surface of the medium are exposed to a constriction of the convergent shaped recording beam, causing a change in the medium in the locations. Reconstructing the hologram is carried out by illuminating the medium with a collimated laser beam and focusing with a lens, light from the illuminated medium onto a detection matrix. Additional methods of recording and reproducing holograms utilize alternative steps.

An apparatus and a method for optimized calculation of 2D sub-holograms for object points of a three-dimensional scene and a pipeline for real-time calculation of holograms are provided. The invention shortens the calculation time of a hologram for representing a three-dimensional scene and/or to reduce the calculation complexity of such a hologram. This is achieved by a 2D sub-hologram of an object point, which has image elements of the spatial light modulator, comprises a half 1D sub-hologram, where the radius of each image element is determined and each image element of the 2D sub-hologram is fixedly assigned to at least one image element of the half 1D sub-hologram with identical or similar radius by way of an electronic circuit, by a method for encoding a hologram, and by a pipeline on the basis of FPGA and/or ASIC.

A device for combining light beams which interact with adjacently arranged pixels of a light modulator, having a beam splitting component, a beam combining component, and a beam superposition component. The beam splitting component is configured such that incident light beams are split into a first subbeam and a second subbeam so that the first subbeam propagates toward a first pixel of the light modulator and the second subbeam propagates toward a second pixel of the light modulator. The beam combining component is configured and arranged so that the first subbeam and the second subbeam are combined after interaction with pixels of the light modulator. The beam splitting component and the beam combining component are configured and arranged in such a way that a sum of optical path lengths of the first subbeam and the second subbeam is respectively constant for different angles of incidence.

A method of computing a hologram by determining the wavefronts at the approximate observer eye position that would be generated by a real version of an object to be reconstructed. In normal computer generated holograms, one determines the wavefronts needed to reconstruct an object; this is not done directly in the present invention. Instead, one determines the wavefronts at an observer window that would be generated by a real object located at the same position of the reconstructed object. One can then back-transforms these wavefronts to the hologram to determine how the hologram needs to be encoded to generate these wavefronts. A suitably encoded hologram can then generate a reconstruction of the three-dimensional scene that can be observed by placing one's eyes at the plane of the observer window and looking through the observer window.

A light-emitting device including at least a metal layer able to be heated and to propagate surface waves consecutive to the heating of the metal layer, with the metal layer being structured such that it comprises several diffraction patterns able to carry out a diffraction of the surface waves to free-space propagation modes, wherein a synthetic hologram is encoded such that a phase image of a pixel of the hologram is encoded by an offset in the position of one of the diffraction patterns, and a heater of the metal layer.

A method of computing a hologram by determining the wavefronts at the approximate observer eye position that would be generated by a real version of an object to be reconstructed. In normal computer generated holograms, one determines the wavefronts needed to reconstruct an object; this is not done directly in the present invention. Instead, one determines the wavefronts at an observer window that would be generated by a real object located at the same position of the reconstructed object. One can then back-transforms these wavefronts to the hologram to determine how the hologram needs to be encoded to generate these wavefronts. A suitably encoded hologram can then generate a reconstruction of the three-dimensional scene that can be observed by placing one's eyes at the plane of the observer window and looking through the observer window.

A spatial light modulating panel using a transitive liquid crystal display panel and a three-dimensional display device using the same. A a spatial light modulator including a plurality of pixels arrayed in a matrix manner; and a liquid crystal layer configured to modulate phase of an incident light passing through the each pixel, respectively. The spatial light modulator and the 3D display using the same provides a thin flat type display system having an easy and simple structure and a low manufacturing cost.

There is provided a holographic projector comprising a hologram engine and a controller. The hologram engine is arranged to provide a hologram comprising a plurality of hologram pixels. Each hologram pixel has a respective hologram pixel value. The controller is arranged to selectively-drive a plurality of light-modulating pixels so as to display the hologram. Displaying the hologram comprises displaying each hologram pixel value on a contiguous group of light-modulating pixels of the plurality of light-modulating pixels such that there is a one-to-many pixel correlation between the hologram and the plurality of light-modulating pixels.

A three-dimensional light modulator, of which the pixels are combined to form modulation elements. Each modulation element can be coded with a preset discrete value such that three-dimensionally arranged object points can be holographically reconstructed. The light modulator is characterized in that assigned to the pixels of the modulator are beam splitters or beam combiners which, for each modulation element, combine the light wave parts modulated by the pixels by means of refraction or diffraction on the output side to form a common light beam which exits the modulation element in a set propagation direction.