Off-Axis Holography

Jens Zorn
2013; Stainless Steel; Sculpture
North Campus; Plaza between the Engineering Research and Gerstacker Buildings

This piece is intended to celebrate U-M’s achievements in holography.  The essence of holography is that two separate beams of light are combined to produce a three-dimensional image, the view of which depends on the position of the observer.  Its origin dates from 1947, but holography remained a laboratory curiosity until 1962 when Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks of the University of Michigan developed their off-axis method that transformed holography to an important tool of modern science and engineering.  In analogy, the sculpture celebrating their development, Off-Axis Holography, combines two arrays to generate a crossing pattern that changes depending on the position of the observer.  Jens Zorn, Professor Emeritus of Physics, is also the sculptor of G minus 2 and The Short, Rich Life of Positronium, both located on Central Campus.