Optics & Photonics News

Polarization Holography

L. Nikolova and R.S. Ramanujam
Cambridge University Press, 2009; $110.00 (hardcover).

This highly recommendable book is the result of 30 years of research into holography with applications in optical storage, retrieval and processing. The authors’ research on polarization holography over the last 15 years is the core of this publication.

The authors also provide a detailed account of azobenzene and azobenzene-containing polymers, which occupy a special role among materials for polarization-holographic storage.

For those who are primarily interested in the applications of polarization holography, the book contains a useful discussion of bifocal holographic lenses, liquid-crystal-based holographic polarization optical elements and display holography and holographic data storage. In addition, it addresses polarization-holographic multiplexing and polarization optical phase conjugation.

Readers might also be interested in highly efficient holographic polarization elements due to low-molar-mass nematic liquid crystals and liquid-crystal polymers. The angular momentum of light and the inclusion of spin and orbital-angular-momentum properties are presented as a fascinating area of research for polarization holography.