Development of holography in Russia

Seeing a hologram for the first time is fascinating, but I think the physical explanation of how it works is just as impressive.

M. Wignon. Introduction to Holography

The amazing three-dimensional images obtained by Leith and Upatnieks in the early 1960s prompted many research groups to study holography after the advent of lasers. Along with the search for ways to improve the so-called “picture holograms,” significant research efforts were directed toward using holography in science and technology. Hopes arose that holography could become a “new technological method” that would solve a variety of problems. In our country, as in the rest of the world, holography began to develop rapidly thanks to the fundamental works of Dennis Gabor and Yuri Denisyuk.

An important role for domestic science in this process was played by the creation of a holography laboratory in the State Optical Institute (GOI, Leningrad) in 1966. In the early 1970s, a close-knit team of active and creative employees was formed here, developing research in a whole range of scientific and applied areas.

Holography laboratory seminar. Left to right: E.G. Zemtsova, D.I. Staselko, N.A. Savostyanenko, Yu.N. Denisyuk, D.A. Zagorskaya, I.N. Davydova, A.G. Smirnov

Below we present a list of the most interesting developments carried out by the laboratory staff under the leadership of Yu. N. Denisyuk:

· Irina Nikolaevna Davydova developed a theory of observation through inhomogeneous media and methods of recording composite holograms;

· Arkady Grigorievich Smirnov created an original system of multi-frame cinematographic holography of fast-moving processes and, together with Dmitry Ivanovich Staselko, stood at the origins of recording holographic portraits;

Seeing a hologram for the first time is fascinating, but I believe the physical explanation of how it works is equally impressive. M. Wignon.-3

· Viktor Ivanovich Lokshin successfully worked on holographic methods of information coding;

· Mikhail Mikhailovich Parkhomenko developed the foundations of acoustic holography;

· Vadim Valerievich Smirnov – developed reflective holographic navigation screens located in front of the windshield of aircraft;

Aircraft Holographic Display

· Dina Aleksandrovna Zagorskaya and her group developed holographic emulsions and produced photographic plates on which Ella Georgievna Zemtsova recorded unique pictorial holograms;

· Iva Ruvimovna Protas and Yulia Aleksandrovna Krakau developed and introduced into production the first domestic photographic materials for holography (photographic plates Mikrat VR, LOI-2 and LOI-3);

· Yuri Evgenievich Usanov creates his famous developer GP-2 for processing reflection holograms, which is still used all over the world. And later, together with M.K. Shevtsov, he creates a micro-void method for obtaining highly effective Denisyuk reflection holograms, including color ones;

Colored hologram obtained by the micro-void method of Yuri Evgenievich Usanov

· Yuri Alekseevich Ananyev, Vladimir Georgievich Sidorovich and Dmitry Ivanovich Staselko played a significant role in the development of the theory and practice of dynamic holography in inertial media, as well as in the development of work on the dynamic inversion of wave fields of laser beams;

· Alexey Fedorovich Kornev, Vasily Petrovich Pokrovsky and Vladimir Konstantinovich Stupnikov developed compact designs of pulsed lasers for imaging holography and holographic interferometry using adaptive optics, which are unique in many characteristics;

A pulsed laser based on the wavefront reversal effect.

· Under the leadership of Mikhail Konstantinovich Shevtsov, a number of unique mobile holographic installations for pulse and color holography were developed.

Pulse holographic mobile installation “GRIF” at the exhibition of holograms up to 300×450 mm in size.

In a number of scientific institutes and even at large enterprises of the Soviet Union, research groups were created in the field of optical, acoustic and microwave holography:

· In 1966, young employees of the A.F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, Yuri Isaevich and Galya Vsevolodovna Ostrovsky, carried out their pioneering work on holographic diagnostics of plasma in the laboratory headed by Alexander Natanovich Zaidel;

· At the Leningrad Institute of Nuclear Physics, Boris Ganevich Turukhan created the first domestic color holograms and disk memory systems, holographic ultra-precise (resolution up to 0.01 microns) measuring rulers 1 meter long and ultra-sensitive angular sensors for precision engineering;

B. G. Turukhan with a holographic ruler.

In Kazan, under the leadership of K.S. Mustafin, a whole school of opticians of a new direction emerged – holographic and diffraction optics for quality control of large-sized optical products, introduced into production at the Kazan Optical and Mechanical Plant;

Holographic optical element for monitoring large-sized optics.

· In Moscow, under the leadership of Vera Moiseyevna Ginzburg, the foundations of domestic holographic instrumentation were laid at VNIIOFI;

At NIKFI, thanks to the experimental art of Gennady Aleksandrovich Sobolev and Oleg Borisovich Serov, unusually effective reflective “Denisyuk holograms” were produced on the unique photographic plates of Nikolai Ivanovich Kirillov PE-1 and PE-2, stimulating a lively interest in artistic holography throughout the world;

Svetlana Borisovna Soboleva, Yuri Nikolaevich Denisyuk and Gennady Aleksandrovich Sobolev in the holographic laboratory.

Master of artistic holography Valery Aleksandrovich Vanin organized serial production of holographic souvenir products in Platan near Moscow and developed a number of unique holographic technologies;

V. Vanin (studio director), V. Kutina, B. Naumov (sitting); V. Rumyantsev, S. Vorobyov, I. Mikhailov (standing). Studio “OKO” (Fryazino, Moscow region), 1985.

· Shermazan Dmitrievich Kakichashvili – an unrivaled experimenter, outstanding scientist and inventor, discovered the possibility of recording three-dimensional holograms on polarization-sensitive media and created a unique method of recording cylindrical holograms that provide a circular view of holographed objects;

· VNIIOFI employee, Nikolai Georgievich Vlasov – the author of many original ideas lying at the intersection of holography, interferometry and diffractive optics, made a great contribution to the development of domestic holographic technologies;

· Finally, at the turn of the 60s and 70s, the dawn of dynamic holography broke out, the pioneers of which in our country were the Belarusian physicists Evgeny Vasilyevich Ivakin, Alexander Sergeevich Rubanov and Boris Ivanovich Stepanov, who discovered the phenomenon of four-wave dynamic reversal of wave fields.

· Sergei Georgievich Odulov, Anatoly Ivanovich Khizhnyak and Vladimir Borisovich Markov, under the leadership of Marat Samuilovich Soskin, together with theorists Valentin Lvovich Vinetsky and Nikolai Vasilyevich Kukhtarev laid the foundations of dynamic holography in semiconductor media.

· It is impossible to imagine the Belarusian school of holography without Leonid Viktorovich Tanin, academician of the International Engineering Academy, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, chairman of the board of directors of Holographic Industry CJSC, a great enthusiast of artistic holography.

L. V. Tanin with a holographic souvenir badge made for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Color hologram recorded using the Leith-Upatnieks scheme by Vladimir Kuznetsov 2015

Holography is a young and rapidly developing field, where much remains to be discovered, explored and applied in practice.

Over 65 years of development, holography has won a stable place in the world of technology as an advanced direction with an established market, a large volume of scientific and technical products (up to 20 billion dollars per year) and significant potential for further development. New directions in holography are associated with progress in various fields of technology and may turn out to be the most unexpected.

Today, the use of pictorial color holograms in museum technologies is gaining popularity. A hologram is an optical copy of a real object and can be used as an exhibition duplicate of a priceless historical artifact. Color holograms are visually indistinguishable from real objects and can be used as high-quality three-dimensional reproductions when cataloging works of art. The emergence of economical, compact and powerful lasers, highly sensitive holographic recording materials instills confidence in the successful development of this direction in holography.