Holography is one of those “it’s-2012-where-is-my-holodeck” kind of sciences--long promised by science fiction, still far from a practical communications tool. But the field is moving forward in fits and starts, even if a complete technology package that will beam moving holograms onto our tabletops, Princess Leia-style, is still on some far horizon. Example: Researchers at Cambridge in the U.K. have recently generated holograms with carbon nanotubes for the first time, generating the smallest hologram pixels ever.

These small pixels translate directly to higher resolution holograms as well as holograms with a wider field of view. “Smaller pixels allow the diffraction of light at larger angles – increasing the field of view. Essentially, the smaller the pixel, the higher the resolution of the hologram,” said Dr. Haider Butt, a researcher at Cambridge’s Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics, in a press release.