Wellspring with dying leaves

摘要

Abstract: As was already noted and repeated to saturation by a number of prominent people, big is beautiful. Therefore, we attempted to make a monumental (biggest in the world?) hologram mosaic that, combined with properly aligned mirrors, would provide the impression of infinity to naive onlookers. Due to the cost of such a project and the financial situation of Belgian universities, a maquette was first made and presented to a number of potential sponsors. After a couple of years, we were lucky enough to produce the real thing, i.e., one quarter of an octagonal fountain pit of about 3 $MUL 3 meters (10 $MUL 10 feet) surrounded by stairs. The walls were provided with mirrors, two of them, in front of the spectators, providing a kaleidoscopic effect, three smaller ones giving rise to a repetitive reflection. The bottom of the well was a Denisyuk hologram mosaic of leaves; by optical tricks, we tried to simulate the effect of shivering water surfaces. The evolution of the project with time, the practical problems involved, the final realization, the advantage, and the shortcomings of the presentation during a technology fair are discussed. !5