For more than 30 years, the secure document industry, and banknotes in particular, have become familiar with holographic and other diffractive image security features transferred onto the document via KURZ’s surface applied foils. That same know-how is now being used to produce KURZ THREADS, which carry highly colourful and dynamic imagery provided by the KINEGRAM® technology.

An article recently released in Optics Express proposes a simultaneous dual-page reproduction for holographic data storage (HDS) by reusing a transmitted reference beam that passes through a recording medium after data reconstruction.

If, like me, you remember the start of 2021 as a time of reserved optimism in thinking that the year ahead couldn’t possibly be as bad as the year just passed, well you and I were only partially correct. 2021 proved to be as unpredictable in terms of mutations and variations of COVID as 2020. But as the following year in headlines show, the holography industry has proven to be incredibly resilient in the face of economic and societal turbulence.

Prof David Brotherton-Ratcliffe’s work in applied optics has to a large extent mirrored the fortunes of holography. Holography News met up with David and his team at Geola’s research labs in the UK to find out more about his current research interests.

Kongsberg Geospatial has partnered with Avalon Holographics to develop a holographic sonar display for submarine warfare, in a project funded by the Canadian Department of National Defence IDEaS (Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security) program.

At the latest count a third of all banknotes contain a diffractive feature, in the form of a patch, stripe or thread, 327 to be precise. According to Frank van der Horst of the DNB in his presentation at last month's Holography Conference, the feature is the second best in public recognition terms after watermarks – which makes one wonder why the other two thirds of banknotes don’t use one!

Inspired by a concept for discovering exoplanets with a massive space telescope, a team of researchers is developing holographic lenses that render visible and infrared starlight into either a focused image or a spectrum. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star outside our solar system.

Fedrigoni, one of the leading European producers of specialty papers and self-adhesive labels, and Portals, one of the world leaders in banknote and security paper production, have completed the sale of Fedrigoni’s Security business based in Bollate, including its employees and assets, as originally announced on 28 April.

This year’s XVIII International Conference HOLOEXPO 2021 on Holography and Applied Optical Technologies was held on 20–23 September at the Primorye Hotel, Gelendzhik, Russia. The conference was dedicated to the life and achievements of Sergei Borisovich Odinokov — the conference’s founder and chairman for many years who passed away early in September.

The winners of the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) Awards for Excellence in Holography were announced, amid a shower of virtual confetti, at the closing of The Holography Conference Online (THCO) on 18 November, with a total of six awards up for grabs.

The Silicon Valley startup company, Light Field Lab, is now accepting advanced orders for its holographic display platform, dubbed SolidLight, as it starts building them for shipment next year.

Allegations of Hologram Manufacturers Cartel in India, Holographic Telepresence Technology, PORTL, Helps Sustainability, LightPath Technologies Adds Freeform Optics to its Offerings, Traffic Police to Use Hologram Vehicle Stickers as Tax Proof

The Holography Conference Online (THCO) in 2020 saw an increase in participation from government officials involved in specifying security features for banknotes, ID cards, driving licences and other documents of value. The trend continued at this year’s event, which took place 17-18 November, with half of all 120 participants coming from central banks and government agencies.