Holographic projection startup Swave Photonics (a new Imec and VUB spin-off) has announced its development of the world’s first 3D holographic display technology for compact extended reality (XR) form factors like smart glasses. Swave’s Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) establishes a new advanced display technology, producing the world’s smallest pixel with a pixel pitch of less than 300nm – small enough to steer light and sculpt high-resolution images.

As the popular use of the term ‘holography’ to describe phenomena other than wavefront reconstruction continues to expand in terms of popular use, this article illustrates, with examples, the difference between two such phenomena.

A team of researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea, led by Prof Junsuk Rho and PhD candidate Joohoon Kim, have announced a major breakthrough in the development of angle-dependent holographic displays that could redefine human interaction with digital information. The technology allows holograms to display multiple images based on the observer’s viewing angle.

The optics and optoelectronics giant ZEISS has launched its Multifunctional Smart Glass technology showcasing the equipment and processes for mass production.

Even as research into improving the performance of holographic displays continues, display hardware company Illumetry, has recently unveiled its ‘Illumetry EOS’ device – the company’s newest product in its line- up of holographic displays built on its ‘MotionParallax3D’ principle.

Another artist to be added to the increasingly long list of deceased performers to be immortalised in holographic form is the late Malaysian singer Sudirman Arshad, or Sudirman as he’s more commonly known.

The Royal Institution in London is considered to be one of the oldest scientific societies in the world. Over the last two centuries, the building and labs have been home to ground-breaking science engagement, including the world-famous Christmas Lectures1. But for two days at the end of October it housed a demonstration of Musion3D’s heightened reality display – often referred to as holopresence.

Holographic displays project 3D images that appear to float in space, without needing special glasses to view. This makes them useful for applications like education, entertainment, and medicine, but current holographic displays suffer from limitations in viewing angle, image sharpness and depth of field.

Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of the Mona Lisa is one of the most readily recognisable works in western art. A group of research institutes have now collaborated to develop an acoustic metasurface-based holography technique that uses a deep learning algorithm to generate and iteratively improve a hologram of the portrait.

Holographic displays allow the projection of apparently 3D images in space without the need for special eyewear. They can use a variety of optical methods to create the illusion of solidity and depth, allowing viewers to perceive objects or scenes as if they were real and existing in the physical space before them.