Optware and Toyohashi University of Technology have developed a
new hologram element for use with players supporting Optware's collinear technology. As Tech-On! reports, this new element is expected
to reduce both the size and price of holographic players.
The latest element may reduce the price of players. Thus far, the
company has used an expensive DMD priced at over $10,000 (USD) even for a playback-only machine in order to generate the reference light
at the time of playback. The hologram element can generate the reference light with an incident light because the pattern of the
reference light is transferred to the element. Thus, the recording light can be played back without depending on DMD. Although the
specific price of the element is yet to be announced since it is at the prototyping stage, the company expects the production cost to be
less than several tens of thousand yen.
The new element also leads to a size reduction of players. The prototype element is 20-mm
square, which is smaller than DMD. In the case of DMD, the size of the portion required to generate the reference light measures 100 x
160 mm, including peripheral circuits necessary to drive DMD.
With holographic players costing more than some cars, any
price reduction is welcome. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here.
