Holographic Recording Versus Holographic Lithography

Holography is generally known as a technology that records and reconstructs 3D images by simultaneously capturing the intensity and phase information of light. Two or more interfering beams and illumination of this interference pattern onto a photosensitive recording medium allow us to control both the intensity and phase of light. Holography has found widespread applications not only in 3D imaging but also in manufacturing. In fact, it has been commonly used in semiconductor manufacturing, where interference light patterns are applied to photolithography, effectively reducing the half-pitch and period of line patterns, and enhancing the resolution of lithography. Moreover, holography can be used for the manufacturing of 3D regular structures (3D photonic crystals), not just surface patterns such as 1D or 2D gratings, and this can be broadly divided into (i) holographic recording and (ii) holographic lithography. In this review, we conceptually contrast two seemingly similar but fundamentally different manufacturing methods: holographic recording and holographic lithography. We comprehensively describe the differences in the manufacturing processes and the resulting structural features, as well as elucidate the distinctions in the diffractive optical properties that can be derived from them. Lastly, we aim to summarize the unique perspectives through which each method can appear distinct, with the intention of sharing information about this field with both experts and non-experts alike.