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Trapped particle makes 3D images

A technique in which a small particle is trapped and moved by laser light has been used to produce visual representations of objects in three dimensions, offering key advantages over currently used approaches.
  1. Barry G. Blundell

    1. Barry G. Blundell is with the University of Derby Online Learning (UDOL), University of Derby, Derby DE22 1GB, UK.

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Devices known as volumetric displays allow 3D images to be generated in a transparent enclosure. Because these images occupy three dimensions, they exhibit the spatial characteristics that we associate with real-world scenes. The images can be viewed without the need for glasses by many simultaneous observers, and changes in vantage point allow content to be seen from different orientations. In a paper in Nature, Smalley et al.1 describe an innovative approach to volumetric-display implementation that allows 3D images to be formed in the air, removing the need for a transparent enclosure.

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Nature 553, 408-409 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-00859-z

References

  1. Smalley, D. E. et al. Nature 553, 486–490 (2018).

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  2. Luzy, E. & Dupuis, C. Procédé Pour Obtenir des Projections en Relief. French Patent 461,600 (1914).

  3. Blundell, B. G. Enhanced Visualization: Making Space for 3-D Images (Wiley, 2007).

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  4. Blundell, B. G. & Schwarz, A. Volumetric Three-Dimensional Display Systems (Wiley, 2000).

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  5. Davis, E. J. Aerosol Sci. Technol. 26, 212–254 (1997).

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  6. Adamson, A. W. Method and Apparatus for Generating Three-Dimensional Patterns. US Patent 3,609,706 (1971).

  7. Adelman, A. H. & Lewis, J. D. Method and apparatus for generating three-dimensional patterns. US Patent 3,609,707 (1971).

  8. Blundell, B. G. 3D Res. 8, 11 (2017).

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