Holography!

A while ago I picked up an old hobby: holography. I've been interested in it since I was a kid and I made a couple of holograms with a homebuilt sand-table at the time I was in high-school. But after I left school and went to university, limited space and lots of other things to worry about kept me from pursuing it further.

But the desire to make holograms never went and especially making holograms on dichromate gelatin (DCG) was something I kept dreaming about. After having met someone on a laser related forum who offered to help me start up I decided this was the time to finally give it a go.

DCG is a very efficient recording material and can yield holograms that are almost as bright as the original under the same lighting conditions. It's not easy to use however. In fact, in the Holography Handbook by Fred Unterseher there's the following recommendation:

"We do not recommend making DCG holograms yourself unless you have an extreme sense of patience, are a little bit crazy, or... preferably both!"

That sure sounds like the description of the author of a certain website about small things! :-)