New System May Let You Appear Someplace You Have Never Been

14 November 2010

University of Arizona scientist Nasser Peyghambarian stands in front of his holographic display

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

A hologram is a three-dimensional image -- an image that appears to have height, width and depth.

More than thirty years ago, Princess Leia gave her famous holographic plea for help in the original "Star Wars" movie. Since then, holograms have become bigger, better and more widely used.

Now, researchers have developed a holographic telepresence system. Traditional telepresence systems are used in video conferencing. They present two-dimensional images.

But the new system might be able to send a moving 3-D image of a person over great distances -- and show it in close to real time.

Nasser Peyghambarian is the lead researcher for the project at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He says holographic technology can make people appear in places where they have never been.

Nasser Peyghambarian: "People can see you just the way you are as if you've been there."

With the new system, the image is refreshed so often that it seems to look like a person's natural movement. An important part of the system is a screen that can refresh the holographic image every two seconds. The screen is made from a special photorefractive material.