Advances in 3D two-photon optical storage devices

The materials and method for storing and accessing information in 3D by means of two-photon absorption is described. The materials used have very high two photon absorption cross-section and near unit quantum efficiency for fluorescence. The storage devices are composed of organic molecules uniformly dispersed in polymer matrices. The binary codes zero and one correspond to two different structures of the same molecule induced by simultaneous absorption of two photons. Information writing and accessing can be performed either bit by bit or in a 2D multibit plane format. Fatigue studies suggest that these materials are suitable for 3D storage devices. Automated recording and readout 3D systems have been constructed and characterized. Channel error sources have been identified and a custom spatial bit-error-rate test has been developed.