Come and see the oldest lasers and holograms on display anywhere in the world!
Lasers have become essential to every part of modern technology over the past 60 years, and are an important component of the STEAM careers of the future.
Holograms were made practical by laser light, and can provide fully-dimensional imagery that has to be seen to be appreciated.
This free exhibit includes over 180 lasers, mostly from the earliest decades, with the covers off many to reveal what makes them work. There are a couple dozen really old holograms to see, and a working modern holography lab.
Come see a prototype of the first commercial laser, the Raytheon LH1 shown above. This prototype was built only four months after Hughes announced the very first laser. There are also some very early construction lasers, many elaborate glass plasma tubes, and laser pointers going back to the 1970s.
Holograms first became available to the public in 1966, mostly as small examples on film in educational kits. This exhibit includes the first published hologram, from the 1967 World Book Science Year, and several of those early educational samples. There are also life-sized portraits made with a pulsed laser, animated holograms of the type seen in movies like Logan’s Run, and a hologram of the starship Enterprise made for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Visit Vintage Lasers & Holograms for a unique experience with cutting-edge science, space-age technology, mid-century engineering, and 3D imaging for technical and artistic applications.