Three-year programme will lead to the development of an electronic holographic camera for use in high resolution imaging, both sub-sea and in air
Pro-Lite Technology reports the delivery of the first extended coherence length laser for the DTI Osda E-holocam programme from British laser manufacturer, Elforlight.
The Link Optical Systems for the Digital Age (Osda) programme was launched by the UK government's Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2000 to encourage the commercial exploitation of the UK's science base in the field of optical technologies.
In collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the programme aims to encourage the development and application of optical technologies through the support of collaboration between industry and academia on systems-led projects.
The E-holocam project is a three-year programme that will lead to the development of an electronic holographic camera for use in high resolution imaging, both sub-sea and in air.
Begun in January 2004, the aim of this project is to develop a holographic camera based on e-holography, of small physical size compared to existing sub-sea holographic cameras and with real-time display.
The E-holocam programme is a collaboration between the University of Aberdeen and two industrial partners, Elforlight (which has provided the new laser source) and CD (an Aberdeen-based specialist in the field of undersea equipment).
The commercial impact of this project is to maintain the UK's leadership in deep water, sub-sea technologies, helping to provide a substantial future export market.
The hope is for E-holography research expertise to be exploited in other areas in the future, including marine archaeology and biology, while medical holography is a possible future research direction.
Key to the successful implementation of the holographic camera is the laser source used for illumination.
Elforlight was chosen as the laser partner due to its past experience in long coherence length, green laser sources.
Elforlight has now delivered its first prototype long coherence length pulsed laser following nine months of intensive development.
The improved Elforlight LP laser produces 1mJ pulsed energy at 532nm (green light is transmitted well by water), with 4ns pulses repeated at up to 25Hz.
For imaging applications, especially sub-sea, a high level of laser beam quality is vital and Elforlight designed the laser to provide a fundamental transverse mode (Gaussian, TEMoo) beam.
To facilitate holographic imaging over an extended distance, the coherence length of the laser must be as long as possible.
Elforlight was able to optimise the optical design of its LP cavity to provide a coherence length of about 80cm.
The University of Aberdeen has assessed the coherence length, and E-holograms have been successfully generated.
