A procedure for generating holograms directly from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data by computer is described. Computer Generated Holographic Magnetic Resonance (CGHMR) is breaking the ground for noninvasive histologic sampling. High fidelity, realistic three-dimensional imaging techniques allow for an increased conspicuity that adds a new dimension to diagnostic imaging, therapeutic guidance and medical education. With the advent of continually improving software, faster hardware, new display techniques, and important advances in fundamental algorithms, computer generated holograms have improved to the point at which they can be produced using sophisticated three dimensional data-sets such as those obtained from MRI. Virtual Reality (VR), Virtual Wind Tunnels and computer flight and space simulation, once strong competitors with holographic imaging, now work in concert with one another. There are many overlapping applications in aerospace engineering, industry, education, and medicine.
An overview of recent developments in holographic imaging is initially presented, including spin-offs from the space program, with applications in aerospace and medical research. Recent accomplishments by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory allow for complex holograms to be displayed in suspended fog. This display technology will stimulate these advances with mutually beneficial results for the space program and medical sciences in search of the “ultimate reality”.