Creating holograms without laser safety goggles

15 July 2021

Photo: private

Daniel Welsch wrote his master's thesis at the school lab "Light & Schools"

Daniel Welsch has received the Ernst Grimsehl Prize of the Department of Physics at Universität Hamburg for the best master's degree in the course of study for a teaching degree with physics as a subject in the winter semester 2020/2021. This prize is awarded by the Association of Friends and Sponsors of Physics at Universität Hamburg (VFFP) every semester to support excellent students and prospective researchers. Welsch received the prize substantially for his master's thesis "Theoretical and Experimental Foundations of Holography in the School Laboratory."

In his thesis at "Light & Schools", the physics school lab of Universität Hamburg and the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter," Welsch explores theoretical and experimental approaches to teaching students how holography works. In the course Welsch has developed, students are given a clear introduction to the mathematical principles and then experimentally explore an amplitude hologram as well as phase holograms. Holograms have been an integral, if hidden, part of our everyday world and a subject of science fiction since their invention over 70 years ago. However, the exact way they work - and the limitations they impose - are often not.

One limitation, for example, is that the laser light required is usually so strong that it is mandatory to put on laser safety goggles. Thanks to Daniel Welsch's work, visitors to the school lab will be able to create a hologram without laser safety goggles. Welsch received the appropriate material for his experiment from Dr. Marek Wieland from AG Drescher, who also developed the experimental setup.

The director of the school lab, Prof. Klaus Sengstock, as well as the coordinators, Bastian Besner and Dr. Jonas Siegl, congratulate Mr. Welsch warmly and are very pleased about this award.