Holograms can be made on many photosensitive supports. I tried two of the most diffused holographic supports: Silver Halide Emulsion and Methylen Blue Dichromated Gelatins. To finance my expensive hobby of Emulsion Maker, I sold most of my best Holograms, so here I put only a few Laboratory samples just for your evaluation.

Transmission holograms

Holograms here pictured are made using a Helium Neon Laser and red sensitive Homemade Holographic Plates. Thanks to ultrafine silver grains dispersion and the optimal chemical processing, the final holograms are perfectly clear and transparent, no traces of Optical Noise (haze) is visible if viewed using green light too.   
 

 

            

Here is another Transmission Hologram. In this picture the Hologram is illuminated by a low power Green Laser Pointer. The Laser has been expanded sufficiently to light up all the recorded surface of the Homemade Holographic Plate. Note how the image is so clear and haze-free althought viewed in green light, the total absence of scattering is due to ultrafine silver grains dispersion and  proper chemical treatment.

 

reflection holograms on silver halide plates

The holograms here shown are made on glass plates coated with red sensitive Silver halide emulsion. A 20mW Heliun Neon Laser is used to expose the plates using the single beam technique.

As a rule of thumb using said laser the exposure time for a 230x250 millimiters homemade holographic plate is about 45 seconds if the single beam configuration (denisyuk) is chosen.


Contact copy of White Light Reflection Holograms made with homemade holographic plate (Courtesy of Mauro Melotti -Italy-)
 

reflection holograms on methylen blue dichromated gelatins

Diffraction efficiency of Menthylen Blue Dichromated Gelatins (MBDCG) is simply astonishing. Unfortunally poor shelf-life, low sensitivity of about 50mJ/cm^2, and tricky developing procedures, make this technology poorly diffused among hobbists.
Using a 20 mW Helium Neon Laser typical exposure times for 200x200 mm plates are approximately of 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

Transmission Hologram. This Holograms can be seen using a monocromatic light source such as the Laser user to make the Hologram itself. The Hologram here picturec is made using the Dual Beams Configuration. Despite the intrinsic limitations of this kind of hologram, the reproduced image is highly realistic, sharp and deep.

White Light Reflection Holograms are usually back painted with acrylic black canned paint. Back painting gives more stability to the emulsion and protection against scratches and abrasions. Another important effect of back black painting is a phisical dark background on which the holographic image can be seen without interferences from the surrounding environment as walls, light sources, light reflected by objects. Anyway if the Diffraction Efficiency of the holographic support if high, the environmental conditions are almost insignificant as it can be seen on the above picture.

 

This white light reflection hologran is made exposing the plate with the light generated by a homemade Ruby Laser. As discussed in the Laboratory section,  this laser wasn't designed for holographic pourposes, but it unexpectedly worked when trying to make the hologram of a coin.

White Light Reflection Hologram made on MBDCG support. In order to get a so bright image, the 230x180 millimeters plate should be exposed at least for 18 minutes with a 20 milliwatt helium neon laser.