TRANSMISSION HOLOGRAPHIC RELAY LENS FOR AIRCRAFT HEAD UP DISPLAY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED EFFORT IS TO REDUCE THE SIZE, WEIGHT, AND COST OF THE RELAY OPTICS OF THE AIRCRAFT HEAD UP DISPLAY (HUD), BY REPLACING IT WITH TRANSMISSION HOLOGRAPHIC LENSES. HOLOGRAPHIC LENSES ARE VERY LIGHT AND CAN BE MANUFACTURED AT VERY LOW COSTS. APPLICATIONS OF HOLOGRAPHIC LENSES TO HUD WERE LIMITED IN THE PAST, DUE TO WIDE SPECTRAL BAND OF THE HUD - CATHODE RAY TUBE (CRT). HOWEVER, WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF NARROWER SPECTRAL BAND CRTS, THE UTILIZATION OF HOLOGRAPHIC COMPONENTS HAVE BECOME VERY ATTRACTIVE. HOLOGRAPHIC COMBINERS HAVE ALREADY BEEN SHOWN AS VIABLE REPLACEMENT OF CONVENTIONAL COMBINERS TO INCREASE INSTANTANEOUS FIELD OF VIEW OF THE HUD. IN THE PROPOSED EFFORT WE PLAN TO DESIGN AND FABRICATE TRANSMISSION HOLOGRAMS TO REPLACE THE EXISTING RELAY OPTICS. WE PLAN TO MODEL HOLOGRAMS AS THIN COMPONENTS WITH EXTREMELY LARGE REFRACTIVE INDICES, AND FABRICATE THE HOLOGRAMS BY INTERFERONMETRIC RECORDING IN DICHROMATE GELATIN FOR LARGE SPACE BANDWIDTH PRODUCT AND HIGH DIFFRACTION EFFICIENCY. WE WILL DESIGN HOLOGRAMS USING COMPUTER LENS DESIGN SOFTWARE PACKAGE. SUBSEQUENT TO THE FABRICATION OF THE COMPONENTS, WE WILL TEST AND ANALYZE THEIR PERFORMANCE.