Optics Lab Project Holographic Weapon Sight

[PatsyTy]

Good evening everyone. For my third year optics course we have to do a research lab that includes a lab component for a project. Our prof has suggested we look into something that interests us an design a lab around it. Personally I have always had an interest in military technology and was looking at doing a report on holographic weapon sights as I feel they are an interesting application of holography. I am also looking at reconstructing a very crude type of holographic sight in the lab.

Starting my research however I am having a hard time finding any sort of clear description of how holosights work and how the holograms are constructed. From my reading I am confused as to whether just the reticle is a hologram, or if the image transmitted through the glass viewing window is encoded as a hologram.

Also, it appears from the link below that a holographic sight could be made using a laser, a collimating mirror and a glass viewing screen that can redirect the reticles image along the axis of the sight as the holographic grating is simply to reduce parallax issues caused by temperature changes. Would it be common in a lab to have some sort of glass plane that redirects light in such a way or would this be something most likely not available in a lab?

If anyone has any insight into something I could look into for aiding me with this I would really appreciate it. I'm looking for feedback to see if it is something feasible to do in an undergrad lab.

Thanks!

 

[berkeman]

I don't see a link, but probably you meant to post one like this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_weapon_sight

 

[Andy Resnick]

Good evening everyone. For my third year optics course we have to do a research lab that includes a lab component for a project. Our prof has suggested we look into something that interests us an design a lab around it. Personally I have always had an interest in military technology and was looking at doing a report on holographic weapon sights as I feel they are an interesting application of holography. I am also looking at reconstructing a very crude type of holographic sight in the lab.

Starting my research however I am having a hard time finding any sort of clear description of how holosights work and how the holograms are constructed. From my reading I am confused as to whether just the reticle is a hologram, or if the image transmitted through the glass viewing window is encoded as a hologram.

Also, it appears from the link below that a holographic sight could be made using a laser, a collimating mirror and a glass viewing screen that can redirect the reticles image along the axis of the sight as the holographic grating is simply to reduce parallax issues caused by temperature changes. Would it be common in a lab to have some sort of glass plane that redirects light in such a way or would this be something most likely not available in a lab?

If anyone has any insight into something I could look into for aiding me with this I would really appreciate it. I'm looking for feedback to see if it is something feasible to do in an undergrad lab.

Thanks!

There are multiple, accessible. aspects to a project like this. First is the design of the optics, projecting the hologram through the eyepiece, similar to heads-up displays. Second is the design of the hologram itself; creating holograms digitally requires more equipment than an analog hologram. I had students make holograms as part of an advanced optics lab using this: http://litiholo.com/. The kit is well-designed, and my students came up with a bunch of 'non-standard' approaches (two-color, for example). 'Hardening' the sight for use in the field is another aspect.

Good luck!

 

[PatsyTy]

I don't see a link, but probably you meant to post one like this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_weapon_sight

Apologies, I meant to link this image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Litepath.jpg

There are multiple, accessible. aspects to a project like this. First is the design of the optics, projecting the hologram through the eyepiece, similar to heads-up displays. Second is the design of the hologram itself; creating holograms digitally requires more equipment than an analog hologram. I had students make holograms as part of an advanced optics lab using this: http://litiholo.com/. The kit is well-designed, and my students came up with a bunch of 'non-standard' approaches (two-color, for example). 'Hardening' the sight for use in the field is another aspect.

Good luck!

Thank you for the information! Glad it has been done in other classes. I'll do some research to see if I can combine the HUD portion with the creating of the hologram. For our lab we are not supposed to use a kit, but utilize lab equipment to design and set up our own experiment. In your experience do you feel this is something that an undergrad should be able to do?

 

[Andy Resnick]

Thank you for the information! Glad it has been done in other classes. I'll do some research to see if I can combine the HUD portion with the creating of the hologram. For our lab we are not supposed to use a kit, but utilize lab equipment to design and set up our own experiment. In your experience do you feel this is something that an undergrad should be able to do?

Making and displaying the hologram, using lab equipment to go beyond the 'kit capabilities', is definitely something an undergrad can do. Designing a heads-up display is definitely something an undergrad could do, but fabricating the design is probably not feasible. Hardening the device may or may not be realistic, depending on what tools you have available.