Holography
in Russia and other FSU States
By Nadya Reingand
Email: reingand@yahoo.com
Senior Scientist, CeLight, Inc. , Washington DC, USA
History
Recently
we have had our Class reunion (Physics Department of the
renown St. Petersburg University, Russia). Amidst all
the warm greetings, embraces, and gasps of surprise at
the view of receding hair, bulging waistlines and other
signs of relentlessly encroaching middle age we swapped
the tales and had come to a rather unsurprising conclusion:
if you are still in science, it means you are working
abroad, if you are still in Russia, it means you are not
in science. Indeed, in the wake of rapid changes that
swept over the former Soviet Union following its disintegration
in 1991 millions of people who formerly had positions
in the vast scientific and technical establishment have
found themselves adrift without any conceivable means
of support. Many have been forced to abandon science for
good and to seek opportunities in the burgeoning private
sector and quite a few have achieved spectacular successes
in their new business endeavors. Their names are well
known and their future appears to be bright. This article
though is not about them. It is about those stubborn individuals
who despite overwhelming odds have kept their faith and
commitment to science, who went on and persevered. It
is a tribute to those who remained fully engaged in research
and upheld the traditions of Russian school, who have
faced and overcome all the innumerable obstacles such
as delays in salary payment, aging physical plant, accident-prone
electrical, water and heating systems, dearth of funding,
etc. It now seems, that thanks to the selfless effort
of these remarkable individuals Russian science is finally
turning the corner and that things are indeed getting
better. This article is homage to all the scientists in
the FSU whose inquisitive minds and boundless thirst for
knowledge have preserved and strengthened the glorious
traditions of Russian science through all these years
of troubles.
When one starts describing
the state and recent achievements in the field of holography
in Russia, the first thing that should be mentioned in
retrospective is that holography in opposite beams was
invented there in 1962 by Prof. Denisyuk whose holographic
likeness can be seen in Fig.1 His groundbreaking work
[1] describes a method for recording of holograms that
can be reconstructed in white light. Most of the current
commercial holography is related to this type of recording.
Fig.1 Holographic portrait of Prof. Yuri
Denisyuk.
Courtesy of State Optical Institute (St.Petersburg, Russia).
This
pioneering work served as a foundation for a host of fundamental
contributions made by the Russian scientists to the theory
and practice of holography. The theoretical description
of holography have been formulated in the works of Profs.
Denisyuk, Soroko, Zel'dovich, Sidorovich and others. Prof.
Ostrovskii, Ostrovskaya and their colleagues have developed
theory of holographic interferometry.
Russian scientists
have also been very successful in practical aspects of
holography especially in development of high resolution
sensitive holographic films and plates. The micro grain
ArBr photoplates for holographic recording have been developed
independently by Prof. Kirillov and Dr.Protas. The factory
"Slavich" located 130 km north of Moscow now commercially
produces these plates as well as dichromated gelatin ones
(http://www.slavich.com/).
They have official distributors all over the world: in
Lithuania, Germany, United States, Japan, India, and South
Korea. Currently "Slavich" is the only commercial producer
of holographic ArBr photoplates in the world.
As their traditional
sources of funding disappeared with collapse of Soviet
Union, the researchers and engineers have been forced
to look for new sources and have found them in all the
different places. Current research gets financial support
from both internal funding like Russian Foundation for
Basic Studies and from international foundations: Civilian
Research and Development Foundation, US Air Force, Navy
and Army funding via European Office in London and International
Science and Technology Center in Moscow, from the European
grants from INTAS, Copernicus, and other. Besides the
Governmental funding there are also direct contracts with
Western and Far Eastern commercial entities.
Geographically the
holographic research and commerce are spread out across
the vast expanse of Russia and other FSU states. While
historically Moscow region have always been the center
of all scientific activities in Soviet Union, and holography
is not an exclusion, surprisingly large number of strong
and dynamic research groups can be found in a number of
diverse places such as St.Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Samara,
Irkutsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Ryazan', Chelyabinsk, Vladivostok
as well in other FSU states and let us now embark upon
a short journey across the "holographic landscape" of
FSU.
Russia
Moscow (the capital and also the commercial,
scientific and financial hub of Russia)
1. The holographic studio at All-Russia
Exhibition Center, Moscow.
Located to the north
of downtown Moscow in a setting that once served as a
showpiece of the achievements Soviet economy, the Holographic
studio (www.holography.ru)
headed by Dr. Sergey Vorobiev produces and sells the highest
quality traditional image holograms on ArBr and dichromated
gelatin plates and films. An example of the holograms
taken by this studio is shown in Fig.2. Thanks to the
Internet one can now easily purchase a hologram on-line
using a credit card. A framed hologram similar to the
ones shown in Fig.2 costs from $17 to $105 depending on
size ( from 9x12cm to 28x40cm) with world-wide free delivery.
This web site sells several hundred holograms per months;
the most popular are the ones with pets.
If one wants to immortalize
his/her image or the loved one in three dimensions, it
can also be arranged at the Studio at the All-Russia Exhibitor
Center, and also at another Moscow location - the studio
at the at Cinema and Photo Research Institute. A 30x40
cm holographic portrait can be recorded for a rather moderate
price of $100, while getting comparable service in US
and Europe typically would set you back $500-$1,500.
In addition to serving
as an advertisement and marketing site, the website of
the Holographic studio also provides a multitude of free
information and service, such as on line discussion forum,
beginners support, holography news, on-line tutorials
and many others, both in English and Russian. One can
also download a holographic screen saver from this site.
The studio also teaches the amateur holographists to record
holograms using the laser pointer, a set of lenses and
a photographic plate. An easy, durable and cheap holographic
setup for kids with a standard 3$ laser pointer is available
for sale.
Fig.2 Artistic holograms made in holographic
studio at All-Russia Exhibition Center, Moscow.
2. Concern of Russian Security Technology
(CRST)
CRST (formerly known
as KRYPTON)( www.crst.ru, krypto@orc.ru
) has been a leader in the commercial holography production
in Russia since 1996. CRST has received international
recognition - as a member of IHMA, CRST was among the
1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Holography Award Winners
in category "Authentication & Security".
The core business
of CRST's is in applications of holography to security
and authentication. CRST manufactures a large number of
diverse Security holograms using the results of the in-house
research and development. CRST's origination laboratory
uses all advanced optical technologies: 2D/3D images,
E-beam (0.2 um), DOT-matrix (equipment is from Poland),
stereograms and kinetic effects, covert images, as well
as the latest know-how: combining of laser and e-beam
origination techniques for manufacturing of high security
holograms. The embossed holograms are up to 300mm width.
The R&D effort has benefited greatly from the creative
incorporation and conversion of the products and processes
originated in the FSU vast armament industry.
In addition to fabrication
of holograms CRST is also involved in commercial production
of opto-electronic components and systems for the identification
of security holograms.
CRST has its representative
offices in 7 regions of Russian federation.
3. Media-security, Inc.
The web site of the
Media-security, Inc. ( http://www.media-security.ru/)
led by Dr Yuri Vigovsky contains plethora of useful information
of security holograms and beyond. Unfortunately the website
of this company is mostly in Russian, and I hope it will
change in the nearest future. Among the most interesting
features of the web-site it that is has on-line proceedings
of the celebrated "School of Holography" workshop - an
annual week-long event held in various cities in the former
Soviet Union that took place in 1980s-1990s under the
leadership of Prof. Skrotskii from Moscow Physical Technical
institute. I have nothing but the fondest memories of
these workshops that used to give the beginning scientists
like me a rare opportunity to listen to the lectures given
by the most renown specialists in the field and to participates
in the debates and discussions that took place afterward.
Aside from being
engaged in selfless dissemination of information about
holography Media-Security is involved in a variety of
commercial activities. As it names indicates, the main
market for the company is in counterfeiting prevention,
advertisement and marketing. The largest customers are
producers of alcohol, audio-video CD, document security,
permissions, concert and other entertainment venues tickets,
microchips, wrapping for the specialty grocery items (coffee,
tea, mineral water, etc.). One should mention unique (and
rather expensive) holographic stickers for airplane turbine
engines that survive at up to 260oC. Media Security designs
and fabricates holograms of all of the above applications
characterized by a very quick turn around cycle - a master
hologram is typically produced in 5 days from receiving
the order and the first 5 million of embossed holograms
can be delivered within following 3 days. Media security
offers holographic stickers with size in the range from
0.05x0.05mm2 to 260x260mm2. It also supplies and services
equipment for the mass production of holograms. This equipment,
developed and produced in their facilities, is equivalent
and compatible with James River Products, Inc. meanwhile
being several times less expensive. In addition it is
involved in development of the full production lines that
include not only fabrication of the hologram but also
it's affixing to the bottles and packages at speed of
up to 40,000 items per hour.
E-beam technology
is developed with a Gauss laser beam shape that allows
improving the accuracy up to 0.001um.
4. State enterprise, ScientificTechnical
Center "Atlas"
Atlas located in Moscow
with its affiliation in 41 other cities is a state enterprise
specialized in Government protection from counterfeiting.
It controls the market of alcohol stamps, and this is
the reason that Atlas is probably the largest, if counted
by square meter, producer of embossed holograms in Russia.
The company works
closely with the variety of Government Departments such
as Federal Security Agency, Federal Agency of the Government
Communications and Information in President' Cabinet and
many others. The main target of the company is to protect
Government documentation.
5. Polex
Located in the city
Dubna (near Moscow famous for the nuclear physics research)
this company produces 2D and 3D embossed holograms up
to 150 mm width on their equipment.
6. Central Aerodynamic Institute
Located in the city
Zhukovsky near Moscow, the Institute had been the leading
site of all the Military and Civilian aviation research
in the Soviet Union. It was one of the pioneers in the
development of holographic methods for nondestructive
testing and evaluation of the materials used in airframes.
Now the group of Dr. Vladimir Pisarev (dzuba@tsagi.rssi.ru)
is building on this work and is expanding its applications
to the fields other than aviation. The group has developed
novel means of probing the elastic-plastic material deformation
using holographic interferometry with subsequent digital
image processing. Using the technology one can study the
the processes of cracks nucleation and growth in the local
contact points of bolts and rivets, residual stress in
welding, in cycle loading, and others.
7. Cine-Photo Research and Development
Institute (NIKFI)
This location had
been a premier site of research and development in motion
picture technology in the Soviet Union. Some of the research
was quite advanced and included development of the three-dimensional
and holographic cinematography. First holographic motion
picture was filmed and processed back in 1976 under the
leadership of Prof. Komar. The work continued after the
Soviet Union demise and had won international recognition.
In 1991 NIKFI received and Oscar from American Motion
Picture Academy in 1991 for achievements in three-dimensional
cinematography.
Currently the holographic
research at NIKFI is being performed by the Artistic Holography
Group headed by Dr. Yuri Ovechkis. The effort is focused
on the improvement of holographic emulsions, hologram
processing, and the diffraction efficiency, brightness,
sharpness and overall quality of reconstructed images.
The art works of his group can be bought thorough the
very well organized web site www.holography.ru mentioned
above.
8. Lebedev Institute of Physics of the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The famed Levedev
institute has always been and remains the flagship of
fundamental physical sciences research in Soviet Union
and Russia. Optics and more specifically holography have
always played a major part among the activities taking
place there. Currently the focus of that research is on
waveguide holography and most of the activities are taking
place in the laboratory headed by Drs. Andrey Putilin
and Alexander Chernopyatov .
9. Institute of Opto-Neural technologies,
Moscow
Institute of Opto-Neural
technologies http://www.iont.ru/
is led by Prof. Andrei Mikaelian. The R&D is directed
on fundamental studies of novel technologies for information
storage and processing based on the means of optical memory,
neural networks and holography. An unique computer based
technological complex is developed that allows to manufacture
optoelectronic components with the resolution of 10nm
in depth and on surface. The whole process includes the
computerized synthesis of the component, materials deposition,
electronic beam lithography, chemical and plasma processing.
The developed methods are used for creating the matrices
of nanoholograms, multifocus lenses, laser beam splitters,
photonics crystals of X-ray range and others.
10. Moscow Engineering Physics Institute
(MIFI)
Founded in the middle
of WWII the MIFI have always served a most prominent educational
establishment in Soviet Union and is currently it has
strong educational effort in a variety of fields, including
Holography. Group of Prof. Alexandr Larkin is actively
involved in study of holography in Optical signal processing,
neural networks.
11. Computer holography center
Computer holography
center http://www.computer-holography.com/
is a pioneer of e-beam origination technology. Origination
process offers many possibilities for combining various
security features. Security holograms produced using the
proprietary origination technologies are characterized
by the rainbow images, true color images, 3D images, switch
effects, animation and other features.
St.Petersburg (former Leningrad,
the capital of the Imperial Russia,
where most of the 18th and through 20th Century
Russian Emperors still rest in the St. Peter and St. Paul
Cathedral.
It is the major center of education, culture and science
often referred to as a "Northern Capital")
1. Vavilov State Optical Institute
The State Optical
Insitute named after Sergei Vavilov is often warmly referred
to as a cradle of optical science in Russia. During the
Soviet time it was renowned for the groundbreaking works
in art holography, holographic diffraction elements, the
holographic correction of light distortions and many others.
Like the rest of the FSE Scientific Establishment, the
Institute went through the difficult times in 1990's when
due to the lack of financial support a number of promising
research and development activities were discontinued.
Salvation was sought and found in doing joint industrial
research and development with western companies. Among
the collaborations developed the one with Corning Inc
was the most extensive and was formalized when Corning
has officially opened its branch at SOI with a purpose
of harnessing vast knowledge base at SOI for the optical
communication applications. Within this framework the
group of Prof. Sukhanov had developed a number of promising
technologies, such as, for instance, holographic elements
in porous glasses. Unfortunately, the joint effort with
Corning was dramatically scaled down following the Telecom
bust of 2001.
Other current holographic
activities at SOI include all scale commercial production
of artistic holograms and holographic portrait recording.
More information is contained at the webs site http://soi.srv.pu.ru/developments/technology/art_hologram.htm
The Team for Optical Neuro-Fuzzy Systems http://soi.srv.pu.ru/investigations/gr_opt_nns/group.htm
Dr. Alexandr Pavlov
and his group have developed a set-up for simulation and
investigation of holographic methods for realization of
fuzzy sets algebra operators. The test bed is assembled
by a Fourier-holography scheme, and it allows to simulate
operations of an algebraic model with two F-dual determining
operations (semi-groups) and operators of parametric fuzzy
logic for true spaces [0,1] (multi-valued) and [d,I] (fuzzy
valued).
2. Ioffe Physical Technical Institute
Another illustrious
address on the scientific map of the FSU the Ioffe Institute
(http://www.ioffe.rssi.ru/)
is well known for its pioneering work in semicondutor
lasers which was recognized by a Nobel Prize awarded to
the Institute Director Prof. Zhores Alferov in 2000. But
the scope of research conducted at Ioffe institute extends
far beyond semiconductors and includes holography among
its directions.
Laboratory of Holography
at Ioffe institute is headed is Prof. Yuri Denisyuk whose
name requires no introduction. An overview of his work
was recently published in SPIE Proceedings, Volume 4737
, "HOLOGRRAPHY: A Tribute to Yuri Denisyuk and Emmett
Leith", Editor H.John Caulfield, Orlando 3-4April 2002.
His recent research is on second harmonic optical wave
generation by cross-correlation of reference and object
waves. This type of hologram operates on a femtosecond
scale and can be instrumental in the development of ultra
fast optical elements.
Another holographic
group led by Prof. Galya Ostrovskaya is focused on holographic
interferometry, interaction of high power radiation with
media, and shock waves analysis. Recent works by Dr. Semenova
are devoted to dynamic holographic compensation of air
turbulence.
3. Institute of Nuclear Physics
Located some 40 miles
from St. Petersburg, in Gatchina, former home Emperor
Paul I, Institute of Nuclear Physics, its name notwithstanding,
is involved in a number of activities in other fields
including holography. One of the labs headed by Prof.
Boris Turukhano (http://dbserv.pnpi.spb.ru/~himslab/welcome.htm
) is a recognized leader in the precise length (~ molecular
resolution, submicrons) and angle measurement devices
based on moire effect in two holographic gratings with
1000 lines/mm. The lab has unique underground facilities
with huge marble optical tables for recording of holographic
gratings up to a meter long. The laboratory was build
under a special order and financing from the cabinet of
Nikolai Ryzhkov, the Head of Council of Ministry in Russia
in 1990s. The lab also produces its own ArBr emulsion
and holographic plates.
4. LaserSoft
Another St. Petersburg
company involved in the development of artistic holograms
and recording equipment is Lasersoft http://www.artlaser.com/hologram.html
headed by Director Dr. Alexandr Skripchenko. The company
is ready to provide various degrees of assistance in setting
up a holographic studio for the shooting of the three-dimensional
portraits, still life and advertisement. LaserSoft has
developed a family of low cost high performance pulsed
lasers for holography capable of emitting pulses of 20ns
and less duration.
Such laser facilitates
creation of high quality holographic portraits of humans,
as well as recording of fast processes such as bullet
flight, explosion etc. A typical $35,000 LaserSoft laser
matches performance of other manufactureres' lasers with
price tag of $200,00 an more. The company also offers
for sale a compact and mobile studio GRIF for holograms
and holographic portrait recording.
The company is looking
for investments ~300,000$ to produce and sell multicolor
holographic studios, a novel generation of holographic
portrait studios, the main investment will be directed
to creation of RGB pulsed laser.
5. HoloGrate
Founded in 1991 HoloGrate
( www.holograte.com) is
yet another company that continues the proud traditions
of the old St. Petersburg school of holography.
The company's spatiality
is in manufacturing of all kinds of holograms (both mastering
and replications) on the base of metallized and transparent
materials in the form of foil for hot stamping and self-adhesive
labels. HoloGrate engineers have mastered the production
of holographic materials for cold lamination and flexible
packages where all holographic protective properties can
be transferred. The company uses Chinese equipment with
up to 600mm width production line.
HoloGrate also manufactures
plane and concave holographic diffraction gratings up
to 200x 400 mm with or without aberration correction,
relief diffraction holographic elements, high power gratings
for lasers, including gratings for use in pulse compressions,
special gratings for measurements. The company also sells
software for diffraction grading design.
Currently Holograte
counts in excess of 500 organizations as customers and
can be considered a true success among many companies.
This success has won HoloGrate some recognition. On 8th
All-Russian contest "Label Show Russian Style 2002" HOLOGRATE,
JSC was awarded with Gold medal in a category "Security
labeling application" and an honorable diploma for design
of holographic label "Presidential Judo Cup". In November
2001 HoloGrate, JSC was awarded by International Hologram
Manufacturers Association (IHMA) for the quality of design
and technical standard of a hologram in categories "Authentication
& Securit".
Kaliningrad (former Koeningsberg,
capital of East Prussia,
where Immanuel Kant once pondered the meaning of free
will.
It is located on separate "island" Russian territory
wedged between Poland and Lithuania).
Here
on the Baltic shores at the Kaliningrad State University,
dynamic holographic research program exists at the Laboratory
of Holography of the Radio-physics Department headed by
Dr. Michael Gusev, gusev@kvphys.albertina.ru
This laboratory have developed a mobile setup for holographic
nondestructive testing including vibrations, deformation
analysis, the surface relief evaluation. The key element
of this setup is a high power frequency-doubled Q-switched
laser operating in a single mode with the pulse energy
up to 3J. The laser can operate in either a single Q-switched
pulse mode or in a double pulse mode with the time interval
between the pulses varied in 1-1000 s range. This setup
allows measurement of the construction components up to
3x3 meter in the field environment.
Modern computer hardware
and software allow digital processing and control of holographic
recording by using the CCD-cameras as well as the driving
and synchronization of laser pulses with needed phases
of interrogated process. Application of digital stroboholographic
systems provides a possibility for new measurement methods,
for example, for investigation of coupled vibrations,
vibration in rotating object, compensation of moving object
as a whole, etc. The range of applications includes vibration
analysis, shock waves analysis, rotating objects study,
non-destructive testing of latent defects. The following
industrial applications were tested in the laboratory:
the vibration analysis of motor, transmission, power frame,
body and its elements in automotive industry; the analysis
of disk and turbine blades vibrostrength in turbine building
industry; amplitude-frequency characteristics of acoustic
systems for musical instruments improvement and many others.
Yet another activity
of this group at Kaliningrad University is directed to
portraits and artistic holograms. They offer for sale
the mobile pulsed holographic camera UGNI for 3D imaging
hologram mastering and copying with the following characteristics:
| Emission wavelength (nm) (ruby laser) |
0.694
|
| Emission energy, not less than (J) |
2
|
| Coherent wavelength, not less than (m) |
1
|
|
Pulse duration in the free generation mode (мs)
|
500-800
|
| Non-reproducibility of output energy,
not more than |
20%
|
| Non uniformity of intensity along the
section of the beam, not more than |
20%
|
| Regulation range of the height (from
the floor) of the holographic camera optical axis
(m) |
0.7-1.5
|
| Maximum dimensions of the photoplate
(mm) |
300x400
|
Yaroslavl' (a city and a region
full of history
located 100 miles north of Moscow.
An heir to the Russian throne was stabbed to death
there in 16th Century. This event has ushered
the "Time of Troubles" into Russia)
A surprisingly
vigorous educational program in the holography exists
in this medium-sized regional center. At the Physics Department
of the Yaroslavl' State School of Education the Holography
group headed by Dr. Galina Zhus' is involved in teaching
holography to the college and high school students. Apart
from this program holography education is supported by
the municipal Children Creativity Center. At this center
Alexandr Akilov teaches middle and high school students
to work with lasers and to record artistic holograms,
to work with lasers as shown in Figure 3. Akilov is an
accomplished scientist who has developed the innovative
methods of synthesis of multiple aspects holograms. He
also developed a system for large-scale holographic recording
with low laser intensity. More information about this
innvative program can be found at the web site http://www.iro.yar.ru:8101/partners/ocdu/tv/DTV/HOLOGRAM/LAY.HTM
Figure 1. A demonstration of Art hologram
recording
for students of middle and high school at Children
Creativity Center in the city of Yaroslavl'.
Samara (a 1M+ industrial city that
stands on picturesque
Volga river bend, some 500 miles south-east of Moscow.
When in 1941 Nazi troops were in the suburbs of Moscow
Samara (then Kuibyshev) had nearly become
a capital of Soviet Union. The tide of war has turned,
and Stalin remained in Moscow)
1. Institute of Image Processing Systems
Under the leadership
of Director, Prof. Victor Soifer a strong record of achievements
in holography has been established in recent years. The
primary fields of research are computer generated and
digital holography. Mathematical models and software had
been developed for inverse problems of diffraction optics
and for the computer synthesis of diffraction elements.
In addition research is conducted in the field of theory
of fast algorithms for image processing. http://www.ipsi.smr.ru/
2. Samara State University, Department
of Physics, Optics Division
Headed by Prof. Valerii
Ivakhnikh this group' main activities are in the areas
of nonlinear optics, dynamic holography, and holographic
interferometry.
3. Samara branch of Lebedev Physics Institute
of the Russian Academy of Sciences
In the laboratory
of laser measurements headed by Prof. Vladimir Volosnikov
a number of interesting studies have been conducted. It
includes research in the control of coherent field structure,
vortex light fields, synthesis of holographic filters
on dichromated gelatin. Dr. Svetlana Kotova heads another
group in the same institute - the laboratory of modeling
and automation of laser systems. The research is devoted
to dynamic filters on liquid crystals and holographic
recording media.
Saratov (also on Volga river - during
Soviet era the city produced
sturdy if noisy refrigerators ubiquitous in family kitchens)
In the
Saratov State University a group led by Dr. Vladimir Ryabukho
specializes in holographic and speckle interferometry.
Novosibirsk (1+M Siberian city known
for the "Akademgorodok",
a satellite brunch of the Russian Academy of Sciences).
1. HoloArt LLC
This company, headed
by Director Dmitrii Shatunov is yet another artistic holography
house that started the commercial activity in the summer
2000. Browsing through the on-line gallery of hologram
offered for sale I have stumbled upon a number of interesting,
non-traditional and humorous themes (Fig. 4) offered by
HoloArt LLC, (http://holoart.narod.ru/indexeng.html
)(Be patient, site works extremely slow.). Using the
so-called "shock' technology allows the company to create
images of falling or moving objects.
Currently HoloArt
LLC accepts orders for delivery of the complete set of
the equipment for holographic studio. A multipurpose holographic
system GU-03 is capable of making high-quality reflective
and transmission holograms including large-sized rainbow
holograms on glass. This compact system is capable of
working in adverse field conditions and costs about US$65,000.
In addition the company
supports a number of research activities centered on medical
applications of holography. HoloArt is also engaged in
the development of a commercial 3D a projector, capable
of creating full color dynamic illusion of volumetric
space without extras (glasses). A large variety of rainbow
holograms (2D/3D mastering and replication up to 80mm
width) for security and authentication applications are
also produced at HoloArt.
Figure 4. Some of the holograms offered
for sale by HoloArt LLC, Novosibirsk
2. Institute of Automatics and Electrometry
of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
At this institute
(http://www.iae.nsk.su/eng/main.html)
two groups are involved in the holographic research. Dr.
Eugene Pen's group is working on polymer media for the
real tiem holography while another group headed by Prof.
Vladimir Koronkevich works on design and recording of
diffraction holographic elements.
Chelyabinsk (industrial city located
in Ural mountains
in the middle of Russia, well known for tank production
in WWII)
At the
South-Ural State University the Laboratory of Holography
(hologrph.chat.ru) is headed by Dr. Georgii Pyzin,. Its
range of activities includes development, production and
marketing of holographic equipment for research and education
purposes, holographic interferometer.
Irkutsk (a large city in the heart
of Siberia
near the world biggest fresh water body lake Baikal)
At the
Mechanical Engineering Department of Irkutsk State Technical
University the group headed by Prof. Alexandr Malov (cohol@irk.ru)
studies colloid recording media for holography, including
self-developing dichromated gelatin. DOE recorded in such
material have unique characteristics since in the absence
of processing stress; the gratings can be manufactured
up to several millimeter thicknesses with unprecedented
selectivity characteristics and large aperture.
In addition to the
holographic materials research this group is actively
involved in holographic and speckle interferometry, and
rainbow holography (in cooperation with Media-Security,
Moscow).
Vladivostok (Separated by ten or
so time zones
from Moscow, it is much closer to Japan)
1. Far Eastern State Technical University
The Fiber Optics Group
headed by Prof. Yuri Kul'chin is developing dynamic holographic
filters for fiber systems and networks.
2. Vladivostok State Medical University
At the School of
Dentistry, the group headed by Prof. Victor Vorobiev is
investigating application of holographic interferometry
to the treatment of dental and gum diseases (in cooperation
with Irkutsk Technical University).
Ukraine
Kiev, the capital of present day
Ukraine was also a capital
of 9th-14th Century Kievan Rus' and as such is often
referred to as "the mother of all the Russian lands"
Prior
to describing the state of holography in Kiev one should
mention that the next international conference on "Optical
Holography and its applications" is taking place in Kiev,
Ukraine on May 24-27, 2004. The Conference is organized
by the Ukrainian Chapter of SPIE and Local Section of
OSA, Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Institute of
Applied Optics and Institute of Physics of the National
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kiev) under the auspices
of The Ministry of Education and Science and The National
Academy of Science of Ukraine. The Organizing Committee
includes such leading Ukrainian scientist as Dr. Sergey
Anokhov, Institute of Applied Optics http://www.nas.gov.ua/Engl/Inst/309.htm,
NAS Ukraine, Profs. Marat S. Soskin and Prof. Mikhail
S. Brodin, Inst. of Physics www.iop.kiev.ua,
NAS Ukraine, Prof. Vyacheslav Obukhovskiy, Kiev State
University, Kiev, Ukraine http://www.univ.kiev.ua/eng/,
Profs. Sergey V. Svechnikov and Sergey Kostyukevich, Institute
of Semiconductor Physics http://www.isp.kiev.ua/.
The topics of the
conference coincide with the directions in research and
development of leading holographic groups in Ukraine:
fundamental properties of 3-D holography (theory and experiments),
holographic recording materials; holographic non-destructive
testing (methods, systems, applications, cultural artifact
restoration); non-linear and coherent effects in holography
(multi-beam interaction, Beam Coupling and Combining,
Coherent Scattering); Holographic Data Storage; Optical
Security Elements.
As far as the specifics go, here is a brief
sample of the holographic centers in the city of Kiev.
1. Holography, Inc.
"Holography" (www.hologr.com)
specialized facility was set up in 2000 in cooperation
with the Institute of Applied Physics. "Holography" has
been commissioned by the Government of Ukraine to supply
the security holograms for its departments. Its field
of activities includes development and manufacturing of
holographic protective elements (HPE). In the recent years
the "Holography" facility has produced HPE for protecting
the education certificates for the Ministry for Education
and Science of Ukraine, HPE for protecting the documents
for the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, HPE for protecting
the documents for the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine,
5 kinds of HPE for protecting the forms for the Ministry
of Home Affairs of Ukraine etc. Now the facility carries
out a large-scale government order for manufacturing HPE
for excise marks on alcoholic and tobacco production.
The company uses James River Products, Inc. equipment.
2. Optronics
Optronics (http://www.optronics.kiev.ua/)
specializes in design and fabrication of holographic protective
elements (HPE) using electron-beam lithography.
3. National Taras Shevchenko University
of Kyiv
An International Research
Center in Holographic 3D-Sensing has been in operation
at the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv for
the last decade. It is headed by Dr. Eugene Udalov, and
is involved in holography, holographic interferometry,
and light polarization studies.
4.Institute of Physics of Ukrainian
Academy of Sciences
Laser department
headed by Dr. Anatolii Negriiko develops lasers for applications
in holography.
Odessa (a proud cosmopolitan city
on the shores of Black Sea
founded by a French servant of Catherine the Great
and is often referred to as the hotbed of Russian thieves
and comedians)
At the
Odessa State University, Dr. Sergey Gevelyuk heads Physics
Department the Laboratory of Holography. Its main activity
lies in the field of holography as well as in holographic
and speckle interferometry.
Chernotsy (West Ukraine)
The
group of Prof. Oleg Angel'sky is famous for its works
in the filed of correlation optics, speckle interferometry
and holography in diffuse optical fields.
Belarus
Minsk -the capital (A founding congress
of what was to become
a Russian Communist Party was held there in 1898.
Less than 10 people attended it but the consequences are
still felt)
Joint-Stock
Company "The Magic of light " was created by joint venture
" Holography industry " (Minsk) with engaging of the investments
of the Swiss Company " Capital and Business Management
- C and BME DV " http://www.holography.by/index_en.php?page=company.
This multinational joint-venture company led by Prof.
Leonid Tanin is active in printing of security documents
and authenticated packaging. Built upon years of internationally
acclaimed research acclaimed research in holography and
utilizing state-of-the-art equipment the company is capable
of origination and in-house embossing of security holograms
(2D/3D images and DOT-matrix), holographic protection
elements for alcoholic drinks and beverages, etc. The
company uses James River Products, Inc. equipment. The
company provides holographic security support for the
Government of Belarus and its Departments.
Moldova
Kishinev, the capital. (Known to
most Russians as a place
where the great poet Pushkin was exiled in 19th century)
At Moldova
State University a strong program in holography exists.
Up until his recent untimely death the program had been
led by Prof. Lev Panasyuk who have developed a new method
of color image recording on photothermoplastic media (PTPM)
. The method consists of recording of optical data by
storing a total array of color-separated components with
subsequent development. Vitreous chalcogenide semiconductors
are used as a photosensitive layer of PTPM. The exposure
duration for each color-divided component is set to be
long enough to produce photo-induced changes in the properties
of the semiconductor layer. Under heating in the field
of a corona discharge, surface relief is formed on the
thermoplastic layer. Now the head of laboratory of thermoplastic
recording is Prof. Oleg Korshak http://www.aif.md/index.asp?id=1932.
Prof. Vasilii Rotaru, a head of " Information systems"
Center, is also continuing these works.
Pridnestrov'e (officially a part
of Moldova, this break away
region considers itself and independent country) Tiraspol',
the capital
At
Pridnestrovskii State University novel image processing
systems based on Talbot effect are being developed under
the guidance of Dr. Valerii Feschenko and Prof. Alexandr
Malov. They also study the self-developing properties
in dichromated gelatin structures. In 1995-1997 the same
group was developing holographic marking of Pridnestrov'e
independent currency. The company uses its own equipment
to produce 2D and 3D embossed holograms up to 150mm wide.
Kyrgyzstan
Bishkek, the capital.
Kyrgyzstan
has distinction of being the only country in the world
having a holographer as its President. Indeed, President
Askar Akayev is an accomplished scientist. His Dr.Sc.
thesis was entitled "Theoretical Principles and Methods
of Calculating Holographic Systems of Storing and Transforming
Information." A specialist in quantum electronics, holography
and optical processing of information, Doctor of Technology,
professor and academician of the Kyrghyz Academy of Sciences,
Askar Akayev has over 150 published scientific works,
including 15 monographs, textbooks and manuals.
President Akaev supports
the development of holographic R&D in the country. Kyrgyzstan
is the only country from the former Soviet Union which
is according to IHMA listing has its national currency
holographically protected.
Company "Aiashuu"
Kyrgyz company "Aiashuu"
(fax: +(996-312) 29-42-28) leaded by Imil' Akkoziev (President)
and Akylbek Jeenbekov (General Manager), produces a variety
of embossed holograms for products and services protection
in the form of hot stamping foils as ready to use self-adhesive
labels and laminates. They use their own in-house developed
equipment as well as Chinese (SANYOU) and Russian ones.
The customers include Kyrgyz Customs inspection labels
for tea products (50,000/month), Ministry of Foreign affairs
embossed stickers for visas (25,000/year), Ministry of
Education for diplomas (125,000/year), alcohol products
producers (1 M/year), and many others.
The company is known
for very reasonable prices of their products and services,
which come from the low cost of initial materials for
the production. Other company products include holographic
portraits of humans and animals on silver halide plates.
Kazakhstan
Almaty, the capital known for the
abundant apple crops.
Laser
center of Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences, and a company
AlHol SP (http://alhol.b4b.kz/
, site is in Russian) specialize in rainbow holograms
and in holographic interferometry It was founded in 1992
and currently it is the only site in Kazakhstan having
technology and equipment for production rainbow holograms
used to combat counterfeiting. The company has contracts
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Republic
for entry visas (150,000 units), Transport Department
(9 million units), Alcohol protection from counterfeiting
in Alma Ata city (8 million units), and many others.
Another one of the
AlHol's lines of business is holographic interferometry
equipment. In cooperation with Kaliningrad State University
they developed a mobile setup to be used for nondestructive
vibration analysis, deformation evaluation, finding hidden
defects in construction and many other applications.
Figure 4. Holographic setup for non-destructive
testing is a mobile equipment that allows noncontact
measurement of deformations in full size construction
components up to 3meter X 3 meter square.
Georgia
Tblisi, the capital
Institute
of Cybernetics inst@cybern.acnet.ge,
Dr. Barbara Kilosanidze, the Director of Holoretek Ltd.
Institute of Cybernetics
is known for its research in polarization holography in
polarization sensitive media since 1975 under the leadership
of late Prof. Sharmazan Kakichashvili. Prof. Kakichashvili
with his co-workers made physical-chemical and technological
investigations on the creation of polarization-sensitive
media. In a number of media vector effects were found
for the first time also in media with dichromate tritane
dyes, mono- and disazodyes, organic photochromic dyes
and others, introduced into polymer matrices; in radiant
colored glasses, nonorganic photochromic glasses of different
sensibilization, and also in hypersensitizing halid-silver
emulsions. By now a great number (more than 100) of stable
polarization-sensitive materials in a wide range from
ultraviolet to red region of visible spectrum had been
created and investigated in the Laboratory. The irradiated
part of such a material is like a birefringence crystal
and can replace the crystalline device in many optical
usages and investigations. There are grainless materials
and have resolution on molecular level. With the help
of the polarization holographic method of recording there
appeared the possibility to obtain artificial anisotropic-gyrotropic
structures and elements unknown earlier that substantially
broaden the possibilities of diffraction and coherent
optics.
Lithuania
Vilnius, the capital.
1. Geola
Geola, (www.geola.com)
located in Lithuania is UK owned company and is an official
distributor of "Slavich" holographic plates and a manufacturer
of holographic equipment. The assortment of plates offered
for sale is shown in Table 1:
|
Name of Certified material
|
Description
|
|
|
Fine-grained green sensitive holographic
plates and film designed for reflection or transmission
hologram recording. Average grain size is 35-40nm,
resolving power is more than 3000 lines/mm, spectral
sensitivity range includes 488nm, 514nm, 526nm,
532nm.
|
|
|
Fine-grained red sensitive holographic
plates and film designed for reflection or transmission
hologram recording. Average grain size is 40nm,
resolving power more than 3000 lines/mm, spectral
sensitivity range 600-680nm (including 633nm, 647nm).
|
|
|
Ultra fine-grained red sensitive
plates and film designed for reflection hologram
recording. Average grain size is 8-12nm, resolving
power more than 5000 lines/mm, spectral sensitivity
range includes 633nm, 647nm.
|
|
|
Ultra fine-grained panchromatic
(full colour) holographic plates and film designed
for colour reflection hologram recording. Average
grain size is 8nm, resolving power more than 5000
lines/mm, spectral sensitivity range up to 700nm
(457nm, 514nm, 633nm).
|
|
|
Dichromated Gelatine holographic
plates designed for phase reflection hologram recording.
Resolving power greater than 5000 lines/mm, spectral
sensitivity range up to 514nm (457nm, 488nm, 514nm).
|
Table 1. Holographic plates produced by Slavich, distributed
by Geola.
The
price of the plates can be found on the web site. For
example, 25 plates 4x5 inch costs about 200$. (The internal
price for plates inside Russia is several times lower).
In addition Geola offers:
- Q-switched solid-state lasers with output energy up
to 16J;
- Turnkey holographic studios;
- Industrial holographic printing equipment;
- Custom designed pulsed laser systems;
- Laser power supplies;
- Holographic materials;
- Technical emulsions;
- A wide range of laser optical components;
- Various holographic services including archival holography
of historical and cultural artifacts.
- Holographic systems,
|
Equipment Line
|
Application
|
Hologram/3D Print sizes
|
|
Holographic Studio
|
Analogue holograms from the real
objects
|
up to 100x140cm
|
|
Holographic Studio with digital
mastering add-on
|
Small runs of digitally generated
holograms
|
from A3 up to 100x140cm
|
|
stand-alone mastering device HRIP
and stand-alone copying machine G3D
|
Larger runs of digitally generated
holograms
|
from A3 up to A0 formats
|
|
digital integrated copying and
mastering machine G3D-MINI-HRIP
|
Larger runs of small digitally
generated holograms
|
from A6 up to A4 formats
|
Table 2. Holographic systems offered for sale by Geola.
2. Standa
Standa (http://www.standa.lt)
is a Manufacturer of opto-mechanical and holographic equipment
for research, industry and education with representatives
all over the world.
Latvia
Riga, the capital
1. Hologramma Ltd.
Hologramma LTD (http://www.cfi.lu.lv)
in Riga successfully applies AChS photoresist in the manufacturing
process of embossed rainbow holographic labels, these
photoresists are fabricated by thermal deposition method
in vacuum are characterized by a very high resolution.
2. Dardedze Holografija Ltd.
This company (fax
+371-7260637) is involved in mass replication of holographic
stickers.
3. Difraks Ltd.
Daugavpils, Difraks
Ltd (http://www.difraks.dpunet.lv/english_about.html)
was established in 1994 on the base of the Physics department's
scientific laboratory of the Daugavpils University. Its
lien of business is mass replication of holographic stickers
stickers or hot stamping foil (excise marks, tickets,
certificates, bonds, drafts etc.)). Over 2,000,000 stickers
are produced monthly.
These
holograms are characterized by the complexity of optical
record (origination) of the image and by method of putting
hologram on the product. Optical record could be 2-D and
3-D - 2 dimension and 3 dimension images, and Dot-Matrix
- image consists of the smallest dots which create animation
effect when changing angle of vision.
Conclusion
It is
my hope that having gone through this short excurse into
the state of Russian holography (from holographic nails
to top-secret Government document protection) the reader
will get an impression that holography is alive and well
all over the vast expanses of FSU. While no one can say
that the last 10-15 years were easy on the scientists
they strong ones have persevered and adapted to the new,
market-oriented realities. In place of the old Academic
establishments of the Soviet Era a host of new agile and
nimble entities have sprung up and some of them prospered
in a changed climate. I also hope that a few years from
now I will be able to report about new encouraging developments
taking place in my home country.
References:
1. Yu. N.Denisyuk :"On Reproduction of Optical Properties
of an Object in its own Scattered Radiation Field.1"Doklady
of Akademy of Scienses of USSR, V.144.N6,pp1275-1278(1962)
2. Sh.Kakichashvili "The phenomenon of electromagnetic
field wave pattern reproduction" - (The discovery). Diploma
No.214. The official bulletin of inventions and discoveries.
1979. No.38.
