Holographic Optical Memory Architectures Based On Switchable Holograms

Three dimensional optical data storage is of interest because of the potential for terabit/cubic centimeter capacities and gigabidsecond access rates. Although 3D storage could be either holographic or bit-oriented, holographic architectures have advantages of distributed recording for lower error rates and massively parallel read/write. However, two barriers have limited progress in the “sugar cube” approach to holographic memory. First, relatively few volume materials are appropriate for erasable real time holography, although a wider variety of thin film holographic materials are available. Second, most schemes require complex interface devices such as scanners, parallel read heads and dynamic lenses which are still under development.