Patent ID: 7227674

Claim:
An apparatus for recording and displaying holographic stereograms comprising: a light source that produces a coherent beam; a beam splitter that splits the coherent beam into an object beam and a reference beam; an object beam optical system for directing the object beam to interfere with the reference beam at an updateable holographic recording material; a reference beam optical system for directing the reference beam to interfere with the object beam at the updateable holographic recording material; a reference beam optical system translation system operable to position the reference beam optical system with respect to the updateable holographic recording material; a material holder holding the updateable holographic recording material; and an illumination source oriented with respect to the updateable holographic recording material so as to illuminate at least one hogel recorded in the updateable holographic recording material for viewing by a user, wherein the updateable holographic recording material further comprises at least one hogel region, the at least one hogel region is operable to store the at least one hogel, and at least one of a voltage source and a heat source is used to substantially erase the at least one hogel so that at least another hogel can be stored in the at least one hogel region.