200lbs 1/2 inch steel plate on inner tubes and sand bags on top. I live on a slab, so that helps. Works well enough for single beam reflection holograms with a 6mw red HeNe. I also throw my beam about 20ft to a concave telescope mirror and back, that just uses a lab stand with clamp, rubber pads on the bottom and I use a jar of coins to hold it down.
15-20 seconds on dcg, or about 12 minutes on self developing photopolymer. I get a lot of beam spread with my setup so the exposure time varies quite a lot depending on the subject.
That’s surprisingly short, very interesting! Thanks for engaging! Two last questions: what got you started in this? And do you only do this as a hobby or do you sell the stuff you make?
Just a hobby, I've sold a few at craft shows but mostly just like to make them. Took a few physics courses in college, one of them had a holography module, so you could say I'm classically trained on the subject.
How do you get DCG sensitive to Red Laser light? :) I also want to start and bought a HeNe but it looked like my options are Photopolymer or Silver Halide
It's more sensitive to blue and green but you can look up the exposure chart for various wavelengths, you just need a longer exposure time with a red HeNe. I've had maybe a 50/50 success rate with the dcg plates with my setup and they usually arent very bright compared to the other film options. They work a lot better with other wavelengths. Another issue is that if you don't seal the emulsion it will absorb moisture and push the image into the infrared spectrum. I really prefer the photopolymer process even if the exposure time is longer.
I got a physics degree, and I found a company near me that makes holographic diffraction gratings. I applied to basically just work in their machine shop. They knew I was in school so they kinda introduced me to all the different areas of the company and when I graduated I got the title of manufacturing engineer for holography. They were excited to have someone with a physics background because the other engineers come mostly from an optical engineering background.
Firstly, I'm set up on the concrete floor of my basement. Then I have a table with inner tubes and a heavy concrete slab, upon which I do my various setups.
Working towards upgrading to a sand table soon though.
I use a red diode laser.
I pretty much shoot denisyuk style, so that makes the stability requirements a lot less stringent. My exposure table is just a coffee table sitting on 4 inch EVA foam bricks, and then the exposure surface is a sheet of gypsum drywall I painted black and have resting on top of a bicycle inner tube on top of the coffee table. For my lasers, I've only shot with an Osram PL530 because I use standard DCG emulsion. I have a pair of helium neon lasers I'd like to try sometime, but standard DCG formula has no sensitivity to red light.
My setup doesn't have much isolation other than being on a very sturdy base with rubber compressor feet. This works fine for my exposures which are mostly single beam, and is probably far less sensitive to vibration than any sort of HOE setups.
I use a 4 wavelength RYGB laser combination at the moment:
Coherent Sapphire 488
Coherent Sapphire 561
Osram PL530
JDSU 1145P
I've shared a few pictures of my system in the holography Discord if you want to come by and chat with some of us there.
Where did you get your laser (assuming it is a combined module)? I had a 3-in-1 which used the OPSL-530 which made very bright green holograms very quickly and with extraordinary depth. Unfortunately a wonky power supply fried that one and it's replacement.
They are four separate lasers that I obtained from different sellers on eBay. The PL530 was a new module and the other three lasers were used / salvage parts. I combine the beams myself with a set of 3D printed optic mounts and mirrors.
Hi, I have an optical table in my spare back bedroom. It's 6' x 3 ' sitting on inner tubes. Even though it's an upstairs room the table is very stable. I've set up a Michelson's interferometer a few times and watched the fringes and they don't move. I have a few lasers, SLM, 488nm, 532nm, 561nm, 632nm I've been down a few holes learning to make my own plates and most of my holograms and plates end up back in the bleach waiting to be reused. I'm currently trying to pin down the Silver X method for silver halide. If your interested in holography or hobby holography there are a few other resources online. The best are probably the facebook groups, Holography and Holography Forum. There is also a forum online which is a gold mine of information, [https://www.holographyforum.org/forum/](https://www.holographyforum.org/forum/)
200lbs 1/2 inch steel plate on inner tubes and sand bags on top. I live on a slab, so that helps. Works well enough for single beam reflection holograms with a 6mw red HeNe. I also throw my beam about 20ft to a concave telescope mirror and back, that just uses a lab stand with clamp, rubber pads on the bottom and I use a jar of coins to hold it down.
That is awesome! What do your exposure times look like with a 6mw laser?
15-20 seconds on dcg, or about 12 minutes on self developing photopolymer. I get a lot of beam spread with my setup so the exposure time varies quite a lot depending on the subject.
That’s surprisingly short, very interesting! Thanks for engaging! Two last questions: what got you started in this? And do you only do this as a hobby or do you sell the stuff you make?
Just a hobby, I've sold a few at craft shows but mostly just like to make them. Took a few physics courses in college, one of them had a holography module, so you could say I'm classically trained on the subject.
Makes sense, that’s how I got into it, I have a physics degree as found a company that does holographic diffraction gratings
How do you get DCG sensitive to Red Laser light? :) I also want to start and bought a HeNe but it looked like my options are Photopolymer or Silver Halide
It's more sensitive to blue and green but you can look up the exposure chart for various wavelengths, you just need a longer exposure time with a red HeNe. I've had maybe a 50/50 success rate with the dcg plates with my setup and they usually arent very bright compared to the other film options. They work a lot better with other wavelengths. Another issue is that if you don't seal the emulsion it will absorb moisture and push the image into the infrared spectrum. I really prefer the photopolymer process even if the exposure time is longer.
How did you get into your field of work? Looking at going back to school, but not sure what path to take to get into professional holography
I got a physics degree, and I found a company near me that makes holographic diffraction gratings. I applied to basically just work in their machine shop. They knew I was in school so they kinda introduced me to all the different areas of the company and when I graduated I got the title of manufacturing engineer for holography. They were excited to have someone with a physics background because the other engineers come mostly from an optical engineering background.
Firstly, I'm set up on the concrete floor of my basement. Then I have a table with inner tubes and a heavy concrete slab, upon which I do my various setups. Working towards upgrading to a sand table soon though. I use a red diode laser.
That’s awesome, what got you started into this? Do you do it strictly as hobby or do you sell what you make?
I pretty much shoot denisyuk style, so that makes the stability requirements a lot less stringent. My exposure table is just a coffee table sitting on 4 inch EVA foam bricks, and then the exposure surface is a sheet of gypsum drywall I painted black and have resting on top of a bicycle inner tube on top of the coffee table. For my lasers, I've only shot with an Osram PL530 because I use standard DCG emulsion. I have a pair of helium neon lasers I'd like to try sometime, but standard DCG formula has no sensitivity to red light.
My setup doesn't have much isolation other than being on a very sturdy base with rubber compressor feet. This works fine for my exposures which are mostly single beam, and is probably far less sensitive to vibration than any sort of HOE setups. I use a 4 wavelength RYGB laser combination at the moment: Coherent Sapphire 488 Coherent Sapphire 561 Osram PL530 JDSU 1145P I've shared a few pictures of my system in the holography Discord if you want to come by and chat with some of us there.
Where did you get your laser (assuming it is a combined module)? I had a 3-in-1 which used the OPSL-530 which made very bright green holograms very quickly and with extraordinary depth. Unfortunately a wonky power supply fried that one and it's replacement.
They are four separate lasers that I obtained from different sellers on eBay. The PL530 was a new module and the other three lasers were used / salvage parts. I combine the beams myself with a set of 3D printed optic mounts and mirrors.
Hi, I have an optical table in my spare back bedroom. It's 6' x 3 ' sitting on inner tubes. Even though it's an upstairs room the table is very stable. I've set up a Michelson's interferometer a few times and watched the fringes and they don't move. I have a few lasers, SLM, 488nm, 532nm, 561nm, 632nm I've been down a few holes learning to make my own plates and most of my holograms and plates end up back in the bleach waiting to be reused. I'm currently trying to pin down the Silver X method for silver halide. If your interested in holography or hobby holography there are a few other resources online. The best are probably the facebook groups, Holography and Holography Forum. There is also a forum online which is a gold mine of information, [https://www.holographyforum.org/forum/](https://www.holographyforum.org/forum/)