ircraft wings and turbine blades. A holographic lens is used in an aircraft "heads-up display" to allow a fighter pilot to see critical cockpit instruments while looking straight ahead through the windscreen. Similar systems are being researched by several automobile manufactures. Magical, totally unique and lots of fun --candy holograms are the ultimate snack technology. Chocolates and lollipops have been transformed into holographic works of art by molding the candy's surface into tiny, prism-like ridges. When light strikes the ridges, it is broken into a rainbow of brilliant iridescent colors that display 3-D images. Researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville are developing the sub- systems of a computerized holographic display. While the work focuses on providing control panels for remote driving, training simulators and command and control presentations, researchers believe that TV sets with 3-D images might be available for as little as $5,000 within the next ten years. Holography is ideal for archival recording of valuables or fragile museum artifacts. For example, the form of a 2300-year-old Iron Age man unearthed from Lindow Moss, a peat bog in Cheshire, England, was recorded by a pulsed laser hologram for study by researchers. A reconstruction model of the "Lindow Man" was made by the Forensic Science Department of Scotland Yard. Scientists at Polaroid Corp. have developed a holographic reflector that promises to make color LCDs whiter and brighter. The secret lies in a transmission hologram that sits behind a LCD and reflects ambient light to produce a white background. The arrival of the first prototypical optical computers, which use holograms as storage material for data, could have a dramatic impact on the overall holography market. The yet-to-be-unveiled optical computers will be able to deliver trillions of bits of information faster than the current gener...
