That’s how the prototype of a special element called holographic prism looks like. It was developed by scientists from ITMO University’s Research Center for Optical Material Engineering.
The holographic prism contains a set of angular readings in the form of beams that you can see in the picture. The prism itself is a system of many holograms that are recorded on photo-thermo-refractive glass (a special material used in holography). As beams of certain wavelength reach this system, diffraction takes place, and the lightbeam gets divided.
Angular selectivity, a special property of holograms, is a guarantee of high precision of angles between the beams. The holographic prism allows scientists to calibrate devices that have angular scales, such as shaking or rotating platforms. A series of such elements made for 21 beams were commissioned for Concern CSRI Elektropribor, JSC.
