Abstract

Einsteins theory of relativity is physically based on one-dimensional measurements using a conventional interferometer (the Michelson and Morley experiment). Now that holographic interferometry enables us to make three-dimensional measurements there exist new possibilites to solve evaluation problems in connection to relativistic distortions of time and space. Certainly much of the knowledge now applied to fringe interpretation could be used to interpret image distortions caused by ultrahigh velocities of the recorded object. The advent of pico- and femtosecond laserpulses will revolutionize high-speed photography and make compensations for relativistic effects necessary. This is especially the case when light-in-flight recordings by holography are used because they represent four dimensions: the three dimensions found in ordinary holograms plus the time domain.

© 1986 Optical Society of America