Volumetric Multiplexing – the Best Thing Since Sliced Data

The work of most holographers involves recording or calculating the light reflected from a reflective/absorbent surface or from the internal volume contained within a partially transmissive surface.

The classic approach to creating a hologram involves a reference and an object beam to create an interference pattern that is recorded on a photosensitive material. The interference pattern contains information about the three-dimensional shape of the object’s surface (where fully reflective/absorbent) and volume (where partially transmissive) and can be used to reconstruct a true 3D-image of the object.

There is, however, a different approach to creating an object’s surface and volume which uses holographic and other imaging techniques to reconstruct a three-dimensional volume from two-dimensional image slices.

The mathematics behind this approach involves principles of calculus and linear algebra which essentially set the limit below which thin two-dimensional images or slices of data, when reassembled, can be considered to be continuous.