Matter is entirely dependent upon energy and cannot exist in the absence of energy. Thus, rather than affirming the primacy of matter, Einstein's energy-mass equivalency points directly toward the fundamental, irreducible primordial foundation of independent, physically real nonmaterial energy itself. The first operating optical maser, now known as the laser , was constructed by Theodore H. Maiman and was demonstrated at the Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, May, 1960. The laser is the indispensable coherent light source that makes contemporary optical holography possible. Conventional photography and optical holography are light dependent methods of storing informatiom.
Conventional photography records only the intensity of the incident light waves.
Optical holography records both the intensity and the phase relationships of the incident light waves. The reconstructed results of the two processes, i.e. , a photograph or a hologram, are significantly different. To capture the information encoded in the incident light waves, photographic film with an appropriate emulsion speed records the pattern of light obtained from an object or scene of interest. But intensity is only a small part of the information contained in the particular light waves of interest. After the film is developed and coherent laser light is directed through the recorded information at the proper geometric angle, a reversed three-dimensional image containing all the details of the original object is reconstructed in open local space.