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HOLOGRAPHIC VISIONS This page intentionally left blank HOLOGRAPHIC VISIONS A History of New Science SEAN F. JOHNSTON University of Glasgow 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Sean Johnston 2006 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Johnston, Sean, 1956– Holographic visions : a history of new science / Sean F. Johnston. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978–0–19–857122–3 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0–19–857122–4 (alk. paper) 1. Holography—History. I. Title. QC449.J66 2006 621.36Ј75—dc22 2005036594 Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 0–19–857122–4 978–0–19–857122–3 13579108642 Dedicated to my family: Libby, Daniel, and Samuel This page intentionally left blank PREFACE Holography hit the world with a bang in 1964. This book tracks that explosion, from the near-silent burning of the slow fuse that lit it to the repercussions and fading embers that followed. The history of holography can be visualized as a sublime fireworks show in which there have been impressive bursts intermingled with unexpected fizzles and more than a few duds. Yet holography has simultaneously been an iceberg-like subject, hidden and mysteri- ous. Much of its early activity gestated in laboratories engaged in classified research, both in America and the Soviet Union; much, too, in guarded processing techniques and the secretive business practices of its major application, anti-counterfeiting; and, more recently, in Asia, where differences in language and business culture limited information flow to rumour or scientific meetings. And some aspects, such as holographic erotica, remain ever obscure. Politics, culture, commercial secrecy, and even propriety have con- cealed the subject, making it peculiarly vulnerable to myths and misunderstandings. Both metaphors—of fireworks and icebergs—are inadequate, and capture only restricted perspectives of the subject. Over its first sixty years, holography has run hot and cold, a subject rich in episodes of parallel discovery, priority disputes, intellectual accomplishment, suspicion, local victories, and lost opportunities. Why attempt a history of what some still see as an immature subject? One reason is because notions of maturity carry questionable assumptions. Holography is a young sci- ence that illustrates how new subjects come to be. It provides answers to questions such as, How does a scientific subject materialize? How does its content stabilize? How do those who practice it come to recognize themselves as a distinct group? And how do its definitions and products depend on their environments? This is a study of how new science develops. Holography is an unusual and important example of post-war science constructed from divergent visions. It grew beyond its founding communities to generate conflicting interpretations of success. This visionary subject exemplifies how science, technology and wider culture are woven inextricably in the modern world. There is a rich thread of information to unravel, and the project is timely. As a subject that has not enjoyed uncontentious success, archives of holography are few and historical information is ephemeral. And most of the early practitioners—known as holographers since about 1966—were attracted to the field early in their careers. Many are still alive, with memories, documents, and holograms. As an African writer has said of his continent’s oral history, ‘quand un vieillard meurt, c’est une bibliothèque qui brûle’ viii Preface (when an old person dies, a library burns).1 The same can be said of entire technical com- munities. This project has sought to capture the spirit, diversity and insights of some of those libraries. And yet this book inevitably chases shadows. I focus on the subject and its creators as much as on their remarkable products. What any text, film, or computer representation of the subject cannot do adequately is demonstrate the visual wonder of viewing a good hologram. Like the enjoyment of a stage play, concert, or surprising magic trick, the appreciation of a hologram is a product of its time, context, and audience. It is both a per- manent product and a fleeting perceptual experience. The few illustrations of holograms in this book are therefore intended as mere hints—unsatisfactory evocations—of that intense visual experience. Holograms represent the culmination of optical physics. The creation of those unset- tling images is inherently a private activity hidden in dark, equipment-filled rooms but, in recent years, also a high-volume product manufactured increasingly by assembly-line processes. This juxtaposition of the private and the public, the dimly perceived and the brightly-lit, the painstakingly created and cheaply produced, is an important feature of this modern technology. The communities and individuals that created holography—producing holograms, developing markets and becoming its consumers—each occupied separate spaces, invoked different understandings, and attached different meanings to their subject. For that reason, readers, too, may find themselves attracted to particular parts of that history. The four sections of the book explore complementary aspects of creation. Their overall aim is to explain the emergence and evolution of the ideas, products, communities, and markets that collectively defined the new field of holography. Sean Johnston Dumfries, Scotland December 2005 ¹ Voiced by the Malian writer Amadou Hampâté Bâ (1901–91) at a 1962 UNESCO meeting. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS One of the most satisfying aspects of writing Holographic Visions was the opportunity to get to know researchers, artists, and entrepreneurs who had played crucial roles in the for- mation of a new subject. Attempting to write a history of a field in ferment could not be envisaged without the contribution of its practitioners. I am grateful for the invaluable information and perspectives provided by the following persons: Dr Carl Aleksoff Dr Arthur Funkhouser Prof. Nicholas Phillips Dr Brian Athey Dr Devi Garibashvili Dr David Pizzanelli Dr Norm Barnett John W. C. Gates Richard Rallison Eric Begleiter Donald Gillespie Amanda Ranalli Prof. Stephen Benton Prof. Joseph Goodman Dr Martin Richardson Dr Margaret Benyon Dr Kenneth Haines Andrea Robertson Prof. Hans Bjelkhagen Prof. Parameswaran Jonathan Ross Jeff Blyth Hariharan Jason Sapan Dr Roger Brentnall Dr Alan Hodgson Graham Saxby Dr Nigel Briggs Randy James Prof. Dr Johannes Don Broadbent Prof. Tung Jeong Schwider Dr Douglas Brumm Michael Kan Larry Siebert Harriet Casdin-Silver Lewis Kontnik Dr Chris Slinger Prof. H. John Caulfield Dr Adam Kozma Prof. Marat Soskin Clark Charnetsky Yasumasa Kamata Prof. Dmitry Staselko Dr Gary Cochran Mathias Lauk Dr Karl Stetson Betsy Connors Prof. Roger Lessard Dr Jim Trolinger Melissa Crenshaw Prof. Emmett Leith Prof. Jumpei Tsujiuchi Lloyd G. Cross Dr Carl Leonard Fred Unterseher Duncan Croucher Prof. Dr Adolf Lohmann Juris Upatnieks Gary Cullen Ana MacArthur Dr Charles Vest Ed Dietrich Dr Vladimir Markov Prof. Peter Waddell Prof. Yuri Denisyuk Steve McGrew Michael Waller-Bridge Frank Denton Rob Munday Dr C. Roy Worthington Mary Dentschuk Dr Ambjörn Naeve Prof. Leonid Yaroslavsky Vincent DiBiase Ana Maria Nicholson Dr Richard Zech Dr William Fagan Harry Owen Gary Zellerbach x Acknowledgements Some fifty of them were interviewed in person. I am also grateful to the many other sci- entists, artists, engineers, artisans, educators, administrators, entrepreneurs, collectors, and enthusiasts who responded to more specific queries, including: Dr Edmund Akopov Dr Leonid Akopov Jeff Allen Dr Albert Baez John Howard Ron Olson Dr Lawrence Bartell Stephanie Hunt Dr Andrew Pepper Dr Kaveh Bazargan Prof. Guy Indebetouw Jerry Pethick Sunny Baines Pearl John Al Razutis Hugh Brady Prof. Dieter Jung Daryl Sharp Phillippe Boissonet Dr Sergey Kostyukevych Bernd Simson Hugh Brady Prof. Antoine Labeyrie Steven Smith John Brown Ian Lancaster Dr Noel Stephens William H. Carter Dr Jean-Louis Le Gouët Prof. Dr George Stroke Prof. Pierre