ABSTRACT
Pulsed lasers were employed in holography from very early on. Their ability to capture holograms of human subjects and to “freeze” time fascinated people. Nevertheless, as we have seen in Chapters 3 to 5, historically, the continuous wave (CW) laser proved extremely convenient to use: more wavelengths were available in CW, there were fewer ocular safety risks, it was easier to obtain an acceptable spatial beam distribution, photosensitive materials worked better and you could see what was happening in real time! But with time, this bias towards CW lasers has changed. There has been great progress in the eld of pulsed lasers. Most importantly, there is now a far larger range of wavelengths available. Higher pulse energies, greater coherence, better pulse stability and higher repetition rates are all now possible. In the future, compact diode pumping can be expected to totally replace the older and bulky ash pumping that is still in use in most pulsed holography lasers today.
