At the conclusion of the module, the student is expected to:

• Understand that there are two basic types of holograms—transmission and reflection.

• Know how to illuminate and view the two types of holograms.

• Be able to visualize the interference pattern between two point sources of light of the same wavelength and how this pattern changes depending on the relative position of the sources.

• Understand that making a hologram requires the recording of interference patterns between light from a fixed point source and light from each point on an object.

• Explain why the images of holograms are truly three dimensional.

• Know how to reconstruct the real and the virtual images from a transmission hologram.

• Understand why a transmission hologram can be broken into pieces and each piece can recreate the entire recorded image.

• Be able to make a reflection hologram and explain why the image can be viewed with incandescent light.

• Be able to make a transmission hologram with more than one channel of information and explain why.

• Understand the concept of coherence length as applied to laser light and holography.

• Define holographic interferometry.

• Know how to make a holographic diffraction grating with very high dispersive power.