Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My son wants to do a science fair project on holography. Wants to make a hologram. Any resources for the physics behind holograms and what kind of variables could be used for an experiment?

Holography is a bit out of my realm of expertise, but as noone else has yet responded to your question, I'm willing to give you some direction.

Here is an excellent web site I found, which goes into the theory of holography in a relatively straight-forward manner:
http://www.holowiki.com/index.php/Holog ... ons_Part_I

While there do not appear to be any science project ideas on the Science Buddies web site dealing with holography, here is a web site I found that might be of help:
http://www.holokits.com/a-hologram_science_project.htm

Here are two other interesting sites that could allow your student to build his/her own hologram with some simple methods.
http://www.holoworld.com/holo/diode1.html
http://amasci.com/amateur/holo1.html

Here are some things I can think of that your young scientist might use as variables: the material used, the light source, i.e. sun light, laser light, etc., the size and spacing of the geometries that create the image.

I home you both have fun with this.

Ed Neu
Buffalo, MN