Laser Non-Destructive Testing of the Holy Shroud of Turin.
When I officially retired in January 2017, we moved out of our house / studio / laser-holography lab after 35 years. No longer having the lab that was so dear to my heart, I never thought I'd ever make another hologram again. Well, I was wrong. Tonight I successfully made a beautiful white light reflection hologram right in my retirement residence bedroom ... on my desk! My laser was placed on top of two equipment foot lockers that I am currently conducting a Fall 2017 lecture tour with. And the object and plate holder was located, separately, on the top of my desk.
The subject was my long-in-progress project of "Laser Non-Destructive Testing of the Holy Shroud of Turin". This proof-of-concept project is to show that 3D laser holograms can be made of the linen Shroud material -- without adversely affecting the Shroud in any way. The resulting master holograms can then be duplicated, and sent to lab around the world for further visual examination: not only by eye ... but via 3-D stereoscopic microscopes!
And here (above) is the resulting hologram, reconstructed utilizing an amber LED light source. It is photographed under 20x magnification through the right eye of a stereo microscope. The linen sample is not only magnified, but can be viewed in all of its 3D splendor ... AS IF THE ACTUAL PIECE OF LINEN WAS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. But the actual piece of linen is not under the microscope at all ... it is a 3D laser hologram.
I will be taking this project with me to the 2017 World Maker Faire being held at the New York Hall of Science the weekend of September 23 and 24.
