Design and implementation of the Zerotrope: a novel dynamic holographic display

Abstract

This paper presents the Zerotrope, an improvement of the classic phenakistiscope and zoetrope devices, used to create a new 360-degree 3D display by addition of a single ultra-realistic full-color hologram. The Zerotrope is built with a single zero-degree transplane hologram mounted on a disc rotating at constant speed. This hologram displays a series of 3D characters showing the sequential phases of an animation and arranged radially around the center of the disc. When a stroboscopic lamp synchronized with the rotation illuminates this hologram, the recorded characters are animated as in a stop-motion movie. The operation of the Zerotrope is successfully demonstrated and shows the effect of the holographic reality (HR) without the need for special glasses or other viewing aids.