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Lippmann process photography is an early color photography method and type of alternative process photography. It was invented by French scientist Gabriel Lippmann in 1891 and consists of first focusing an image onto a light-sensitive plate, placing the emulsion in contact with a mirror (originally liquid mercury) during the exposure to introduce interference, chemically developing the plate, inverting the plate and painting the glass black, and finally affixing a prism to the emulsion surface. The image is then viewed by illuminating the plate with light. This type of photography became known as interferential photography or interferometric colour photography and the results it produces are sometimes called direct photochromes, interference photochromes, or Lippmann photochromes (distinguished from the earlier so-called "Photochrom" which were merely black-and-white photographs painted with color by hand). In French, the method is known as photographie interférentielle and the resulting images were originally exhibited as des vues lippmaniennes. Lippmann won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1908 "for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference".
Images made with this method are created on a Lippmann plate: a clear glass plate (having no anti-halation backing), coated with an almost transparent (very low silver halide content) emulsion of extremely fine grains, typically 0.01 to 0.04 micrometres in diameter.R.W.G. Hunt, The Reproduction of Colour, 6th ed, p6 Consequently, Lippmann plates have an extremely high resolving power exceeding 400 lines/mm.
For this method Lippmann won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1908.
The colour image can only be viewed in the reflection of a diffuse light source from the plate, making the field of view limited, and therefore not easily copied with conventional techniques. The method was very insensitive with the emulsions of the time and it never came into general use. Another reason Lippmann's process of colour photography did not succeed can be found in the invention of the autochrome plates by the Lumière brothers. A technique derived from the Lippmann technique has been proposed as a method of producing images which can easily be viewed, but not copied, for security purposes.
Gallery
Other sources of Lippmann plates
(1973). 9780879850838, Eastman Kodak Company. ISBN 9780879850838
Durable data storage utility
Because the photographs are so durable, researchers have reworked Lippmann plates for use in archival data storage to replace hard drives. Work began on the project after they were made aware data storage on the International Space Station requires daily maintenance because it can be damaged by cosmic rays and they recalled that silver halide would not be significantly affected by astroparticles (or even electromagnetic pulses from nuclear explosions). 150 standing-wave storage samples placed on the ISS during 2019 showed no signs of data degradation after exposure to cosmic rays for nine months.
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Categories: Photographic Processes, Photographic Processes Dating From The 19th Century, Audiovisual Introductions In 1891, French Inventions, Luxembourgish Inventions, Alternative Photographic Processes, 19th Century In Art, 19th-century Photography, Computer Data Storage, Computer Storage Devices, Archival Technology
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