3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

1. INTRODUCTION

3D optical data storage is the technology in which information can be recorded and
read with three dimensional resolution . In 3D optical data storage technology light is used to
store information throughout the three-dimensional volume of a material. By distributing data
within the volume of the recording medium, it should be possible to achieve far greater storage
densities than current technologies. This has the potential to provide terabyte-level mass
storage on DVD-sized disks. Data recording and read back are achieved by focusing lasers
within the medium. Because of the volumetric nature of the data structure, the laser light must
travel through other data points before it reaches the point where reading or recording is
desired. Therefore, some kind of nonlinearity is required to ensure that other data points do not
interfere with the addressing of the desired point.

Dept. of ECE 1 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

2. METHODS OF OPTICAL STORAGE

Optical data storage techniques are categorized in three basic groups.

SURFACE OR 2D RECORDING
• CD/DVD—Data are stored in reflective pits and scanned with a focused laser. Disks are
easily replicated from a master.
• CD-Recordable—Reflective pits are thermally recorded by focused laser. This type is
usually lower density than read-onlyversions. Researchers have proposed blue lasers and
“electron-trapping” materials to achieve density improvements.
• Magneto-optic disks—Spots are recorded with a combination of magnetic field and focused
laser.

VOLUMETRIC RECORDING
Holographic—Data are stored in interference fringes with massively parallel I/O. Suitable
recording material is still needed.

BIT-BY-BIT 3D RECORDING
2-photon—two beams of different wavelengths mark writes, then read in parallel using
fluorescence. Material sensitivity is an issue.

Dept. of ECE 2 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

3. COMMON FEATURES
In general a storage device is a black box which takes in user data at some point in
time, and which delivers that same data at a later time. Within the black box storage device,
volumetric optical storage technologies tend to have several common features. There is always
at least one laser, and a way to modulate incoming data onto this laser beam. An optical system
delivers the data bearing beam to the storage material for recording, and carries it away from
the storage material to a detector for readout.

The surface storage density accessible with focused beams of light is roughly 1/λ2 .
With green light of roughly 0.5 micron wavelength, this should lead to 4 bits/sq. micron or
more than 4 Gigabytes (GB) on each side of a 120mm diameter, 1mm thick disk. But by
storing data throughout the volume at a density of 1/λ3, the capacity of the same disk could be
increased 2000 fold, to 8 Terabytes (TB ).

The point at which volumetric storage diverges from surface optical storage: the
recording process must add new data to a volume without obliterating other data already
recorded, with the obvious constraint that the laser beam must pass along some contiguous path
from an edge into and through the volume. In surface optical storage, the laser beam can
illuminate only the bit is being accessed; in volumetric storage, the laser beam is always
partially illuminating other, unrelated bits. Like the recording process, the volumetric readout
process must retrieve only the desired bits, with tolerable amounts of crosstalk, and the same
constraint about access from the edge of the volume. Channel electronics then reproduce the
original binary data from the analog signal(s) detected by the photo detector(s). At this point,
something inside the box must change in order that the next storage/retrieval step applies to a
different set of data. This might include moving the material, refocusing, steering, or
modulating a laser beam, changing the laser wavelength, or changing the media's
properties(with electric or magnetic field, for instance) to allow the laser to selectively address
a new data set.

Dept. of ECE 3 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

Storage capacity depends on the product of volumetric density (many data sets per unit
volume), the accessible volume under each modulator/detector pair, and the number of user
bits per data set. Recording rate depends on how long it takes to selectively address the desired
data set, and the dwell time of the laser required to store the data. Similarly, readout rate and
latency depend on the speed of selective addressing, and the dwell time of the laser required to
retrieve the data. The channel electronics add to the latency, but not to the readout rate (unless
the electronics are the rate limiting step). If the storage media is physically moved to
selectively address, this often tends to dominate the readout rate and latency. If the storage
media is a continuously spinning disk, then the laser often needs to be pulsed (decreasing dwell
time) and the latency (the delay to a random data set) can significantly exceed the inverse of
the burst readout rate (delay to the next sequentially placed data set).

In many cases, cost considerations can be broken down into two parts: the cost of the
system, and the incremental cost of removable media. The former tends to be dominated by
components (laser, modulator, detector, spindles, beam steerers, optics); the latter usually by
finishing costs (cutting, polishing, anti reflection coatings) rather than by raw material cost. (Of
course, since commercialized volumetric storage products are as yet few and far between, these
thoughts are perhaps somewhat speculative). Power consumption budgets also tend to be
dominated by peripherals (cryogenics or temperature control if required, spindle, high-voltage
modulators) rather than by the detection/modulation electronics or even the laser. Big,
inefficient lasers are usually much more painful in terms of cost and size rather than in terms of
electrical power consumption.

Desirable features might include capacity, input and output data rates, latency (the
delay between asking for and receiving a desired bit or block of data), cost, system volume,
and power consumption. Other defining characteristics might include removability of the
storage media, and the ability to erase and rewrite data.

Dept. of ECE 4 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

4. OVERVIEW
Current optical data storage media, such as the CD and DVD store data as a series of
reflective marks on an internal surface of a disc. In order to increase storage capacity, it
is possible for discs to hold two or even more of these data layers, but their number is
severely limited since the addressing laser interacts with every layer that it passes
through on the way to and from the addressed layer. These interactions cause noise that
limits the technology to approximately 10 layers. 3D optical data storage methods
circumvent this issue by using addressing methods where only the specifically addressed
voxel (volumetric pixel) interacts substantially with the addressing light. This necessarily
involves nonlinear data reading and writing methods, in particular nonlinear optics.

Figure 4.1 shows a schematic representation of a cross-section through a 3D optical

storage disc (yellow) along a data track (orange marks). Four data layers are seen, with the
laser currently addressing the third from the top. The laser passes through the first two layers
and only interacts with the third, since here the light is at a high intensity.

Figure 4.1.Cross section of 3Doptical data storagedisk

Dept. of ECE 5 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

As an example, a prototypical 3D optical data storage system may use a disk that looks
much like a transparent DVD. The disc contains many layers of information, each at a different
depth in the media and each consisting of a DVD-like spiral track. In order to record
information on the disc a laser is brought to a focus at a particular depth in the media that
corresponds to a particular information layer. When the laser is turned on it causes a
photochemical change in the media. As the disc spins and the read/write head moves along a
radius, the layer is written just as a DVD-R is written. The depth of the focus may then be
changed and another entirely different layer of information written. The distance between
layers may be 5 to 100 micrometers, allowing >100 layers of information to be stored on a
single disc.

In order to read the data back (in this example), a similar procedure is used except this
time instead of causing a photochemical change in the media the laser causes fluorescence.
This is achieved e.g. by using a lower laser power or a different laser wavelength. The intensity
or wavelength of the fluorescence is different depending on whether the media has been
written at that point, and so by measuring the emitted light the data is read.

It should be noted that the size of individual chromophore molecules or photoactive

color centers is much smaller than the size of the laser focus (which is determined by the
diffraction limit). The light therefore addresses a large number (possibly even 109) of
molecules at any one time, so the medium acts as a homogeneous mass rather than a matrix
structured by the positions of chromophores.

Dept. of ECE 6 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

5. 3D- STORAGE OF LOCALIZED BITS

There are mainly two volumetric optical storage approaches. These are storage of
localized bits throughout a volume (accessed either bit by bit or in parallel) and volume
holographic storage.

Volumetric optical storage is an extension from surface optical storage: localized bits
stored not only on the surface but throughout the volume. In relation to the abstract black box,
the modulator is usually the laser itself, and the selective addressing of datasets is done by
focusing the laser beam. Researchers have developed on different types of bit localized storage,
which can be roughly grouped into read one bit at a time and those which can read multiple
bits in parallel. With the former, the laser focuses to single voxels and reads data out to a single
photo detector; with the latter, the laser selects a small set of contiguous voxels and then reads
data out to a photo detector array.

Dept. of ECE 7 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

5.1. BIT SERIAL STORAGE

Extending the CD concept to multiple layers can be done without changing much of
the readout hardware. The focus servo becomes responsible for changing between layers of
different depth, in addition to it, locking onto a layer once one is chosen. Crosstalk from other
layers is minimized by separating layers by a fairly large distance as shown in Figure 5.1 (this
spacing is _ 55 microns for DVD).

Figure 5.1 Pre-fabricated disk with multiple layers is accessed from one surface for bit
localized volumetric optical storage.

This ensures that when the converging (diverging) beam passes through the nearest
neighboring layers; the large spot size covers enough data bits that the loss in transmission due
to reflecting pits remains constant. If the layers are moved closer together, more crosstalk
reaches the detector, and causes to the statistical variation of random ON and OFF bits can
become a significant noise source.

Dept. of ECE 8 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

As more layers are added, then the reflectance and transmission of each layer needs to
be adjusted. Then signals from each layer are equally detectable. The signal-to-noise ratio is
reduced not only by the lower average signal level, but also by the scattering of the reflected
beam as it passes through higher layers on its way back to the detector. As the number of layers
increases and the bottom layers move relatively deep into the substrate, a trade off emerges
between high numerical aperture (needed for tight focusing more than depth of focus since the
disk is layered already ) and the working distance between the lens and disk surface.

Without adaptive correction for each layer, this rapidly limits the number of accessible
layers: since only one layer can be exactly corrected for (probably in the middle of the disk),
the spot-size is maximum at either the top or bottom layers. Despite these difficulties,
researchers on multilayer optical storage believed that the number of layers could be increased
to 20 simply by increasing the read power. For read write disks, the read power must remain
below the write threshold, and the absorption and recording characteristics as well as the
reflectivity of the written state must be individually tuned for each layer. However, by
choosing the transmissivity of each layer carefully, a design point of 20 writable layers with a
100mW laser was found.

Other problems include registering the layers (with same center of rotation) so that a
read/write head that is tracking on one layer can move to another and still know which track it
will be on, and keeping the layer thicknesses uniform so that the focus servo can always
distinguish between layers.

Dept. of ECE 9 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

5.2. BIT LAYERS IN HOMOGENEOUS MEDIA

Localized bit volumetric optical data storage has been demonstrated using two photon
fluorescence , by bleaching two photon fluorescence , by refractive changes in photo chromic,
photopolymer , photorefractive , and photorefractive polymer materials, and by generating
micro-explosions in glass through two photon absorption . Exposure times have ranged from
seconds for photo refractive down to single 100 femto second pulses for glass .

Figure 5.2 Bits are localized with in a initially homogeneous block of media by careful
focusing and either confocal imaging, nonlinear material response or both.

With 2 photon fluorescence, the written data pattern can be read with an ordinary
microscope. Thus research in localized bit volumetric recording appears to have settled on two
photon processes and fluorescence

Dept. of ECE 10 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

5.3. BIT PARALLEL READOUT OF 2 PHOTON

FLUORESCENCE

Moving from bit serial to bit parallel access is an attractive way to increase the
potential data transfer rates. With two photon fluorescence readout, a data set containing many
bits can be selected and read out in parallel. In this scheme, the two photon process is
selectively applied to a localized region or spot by applying two beams through orthogonal
faces of a cube of material. For bit serial access, both beams are focused for bit parallel access,
one beam contains a page of information imaged to a plane within the material while the other
beam is a cylindrically focused sheet of light illuminating only this image plane from the side
(See Figure 5.3a).

Figure 5.3a Orthogonal beams are used to write and read data in parallel in 3-dimensions
Using two photon fluorescence

Dept. of ECE 11 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

Initially, spirobenzopyran embedded in polymer was used because its desirable photo
chromic behavior (that is, light can induce a change in the molecule's absorption spectrum) was
accessible with the fundamental and second harmonic of Nd:YAG lasers.

Figure 5.3b Energy band diagrams for written and unwritten forms of the fluorescent
photo chromic material spirobenzopyran.

The energy levels are shown in Figure 5.3b for the unwritten and written forms of the
molecule. The orthogonal arrangement of beams is required because of the potential for two
photon absorption by the green beam alone. By using the green light as the cylindrical
addressing beam, the two photon write process is confined to this illuminated 2 D plane. As
shown in Figure 5.3b, written layers can be illuminated either by one or two photon
fluorescence. Using one photon fluorescence (green addressing beam for readout) offers more
efficiency and does not necessarily imply destructive read out. The orthogonal arrangement
provides the opportunity for multi functional access of database records using the different
faces of the storage cube for different database actions.

Dept. of ECE 12 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

A list of desired characteristics includes:

1) A high two photon absorption cross section so that incident light is used efficiently to write
information, and/or high doping levels to increase the number of molecules per vowel;
2) The written form of the molecule should have a high fluorescence quantum yield, for
sufficient readout signal strength. Note that since the fluorescence is emitted in all directions,
only the portion captured by the numerical aperture of the readout optics contributes to the
detected signal strength.
3) Both forms (written and unwritten) of the photo chromic molecule should be stable at room
temperature;
4) High fatigue resistance (i.e., few residual products in the photochemical reactions) for > 106
write read erase cycles;
5) A large separation in absorption and emission spectra so that readout signals can be filtered
out, and so that the fluorescence signal does not affect either written or unwritten molecules;
6) Nondestructive readout (also linked to the spectral separations);
7) And the capability of being fabricated in low scatter, high optical quality samples using
simple polymer hosts.

Some of the systems difficulties with this two photon parallel access method stem from
the media. The low sensitivity of the two photon process requires high power pulsed lasers.
Despite the high powers, the media still requires hundreds of recording pulses per data plane or
forces serial access during writing.

Dept. of ECE 13 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

6. PROCESS FOR CREATING WRITTEN DATA

Data recording in a 3D optical storage medium requires that a change take place in the
medium upon excitation. This change is generally a photochemical reaction of some sort,
although other possibilities exist. Chemical reactions that have been investigated include
photoisomerizations, photodecompositions and photobleaching, and polymerization
initiation. Most investigated have been photo chromic compounds, which include
azobenzenes, spiropyrans, stilbenes, fulgides and diarylethenes. If the photochemical
change is reversible, then rewritable data storage may be achieved, at least in principle.
Also, multilevel recording, where data is written in ‘grayscale’ rather than as ‘on’ and
‘off’ signals, is technically feasible.

6.1. NONRESONANT MULTIPHOTON ABSORPTION

Although there are many nonlinear optical phenomena, only multiphoton absorption is
capable of injecting into the media the significant energy required to electronically excite
molecular species and cause chemical reactions. Two-photon absorption is the
strongest multiphoton absorbance by far, but still it is a very weak phenomenon, leading
to low media sensitivity. Therefore, much research has been directed at providing
chromophores with high two-photon absorption cross-sections.
Writing by 2-photon absorption can be achieved by focusing the writing laser on the
point where the photochemical writing process is required. The wavelength of the
writing laser is chosen such that it is not linearly absorbed by the medium, and therefore
it does not interact with the medium except at the focal point. At the focal point 2-photon
absorption becomes significant, because it is a nonlinear process dependent on the square
of the laser fluence.

Dept. of ECE 14 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

Writing by 2-photon absorption can also be achieved by the action of two lasers in
coincidence. This method is typically used to achieve the parallel writing of information
at once. One laser passes through the media, defining a line or plane. The second laser is
then directed at the points on that line or plane that writing is desired. The coincidence of
the lasers at these points excited 2-photon absorption, leading to writing photochemistry.

6.2 SEQUENTIAL MULTIPHOTON ABSORPTION

Another approach to improving media sensitivity has been to employ resonant two-
photon absorption (also known as "1+1" or "sequential" 2-photon absorbance).
Nonresonant two-photon absorption (as is generally used) is weak since in order for
excitation to take place, the two exciting photons must arrive at the chromophore at
almost exactly the same time. This is because the chromophore is unable to interact
with a single photon alone. However, if the chromophore has an energy level
corresponding to the (weak) absorption of one photon then this may be used as a
stepping stone, allowing more freedom in the arrival time of photons and therefore a
much higher sensitivity. However, this approach results in a loss of nonlinearity
compared to nonresonant 2-photon absorbance (since each 1-photon absorption step is
essentially linear), and therefore risks compromising the 3D resolution of the system.

6.3 MICROHOLOGRAPHY
In microholography, focused beams of light are used to record submicrometre-sized
holograms in a photorefractive material, usually by the use of collinear beams. The writing
process may use the same kinds of media that are used in other types of holographic data
storage, and may use 2-photon processes to form the holograms.

6.4 DATA RECORDING DURING MANUFACTURING

Data may also be created in the manufacturing of the media, as is the case with most
optical disc formats for commercial data distribution. In this case, the user can not write to the
disc - it is a ROM format. Data may be written by a nonlinear optical method, but in this case
the use of very high power lasers is acceptable so media sensitivity becomes less of an issue.

Dept. of ECE 15 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

The fabrication of discs containing data molded or printed into their 3D structure has
also been demonstrated. For example, a disc containing data in 3D may be constructed by
sandwiching together a large number of wafer-thin discs, each of which is molded or printed
with a single layer of information. The resulting ROM disc can then be read using a 3D reading
method.

6.5 OTHER APPROACHES TO WRITING

Other techniques for writing data in three-dimensions have also been examined, including

• Persistent spectral hole burning (PSHB), which also allows the possibility of spectral
multiplexing to increase data density. However, PSHB media currently requires
extremely low temperatures to be maintained in order to avoid data loss.
• Void formation, where microscopic bubbles are introduced into a media by high
intensity laser irradiation.
• Chromophore poling, where the laser-induced reorientation of chromophores in the
media structure leads to readable changes.

Dept. of ECE 16 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

7. PROCESSES FOR READING DATA

The reading of data from 3D optical memories has been carried out in many different
ways. While some of these rely on the nonlinearity of the light-matter interaction to obtain 3D
resolution, others use methods that spatially filter the media's linear response. Reading methods
include:

• Two photon absorption (resulting in either absorption or fluorescence). This method is

essentially two-photon microscopy.
• Linear excitation of fluorescence with confocal detection. This method is essentially
confocal laser scanning microscopy. It offers excitation with much lower laser powers
than does two-photon absorbance, but has some potential problems because the
addressing light interacts with many other data points in addition to the one being
addressed.
• Measurement of small differences in the refractive index between the two data states

Dept. of ECE 17 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

• This method usually employs a phase contrast microscope or confocal reflection

microscope. No absorption of light is necessary, so there is no risk of damaging data
while reading, but the required refractive index mismatch in the disc may limit the
thickness (i.e. number of data layers) that the media can reach due to the accumulated
random wave front errors that destroy the focused spot quality.
• Second harmonic generation has been demonstrated as a method to read data written
into a poled polymer matrix.
• Optical coherence tomography has also been demonstrated as a parallel reading
method.

8. MEDIA DESIGN
The active part of 3D optical storage media is usually an organic polymer either doped
or grafted with the photochemical active species. Alternatively, crystalline and sol-gel
materials have been used.

8.1 MEDIA FORM FACTOR

Media for 3D optical data storage have been suggested in several form factors:

• Disc. A disc media offers a progression from CD/DVD, and allows reading and writing
to be carried out by the familiar spinning disc method.
• Card. A credit card form factor media is attractive from the point of view of portability
and convenience, but would be of a lower capacity than a disc.

Dept. of ECE 18 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

• Crystal or Cube. Several science fiction writers have suggested small solids that store
massive amounts of information, and at least in principle this could be achieved with
3D optical data storage.

8.2 MEDIA MANUFACTURING

The simplest method of manufacturing - the molding of a disk in one piece - is a

possibility for some systems. A more complex method of media manufacturing is for the media
to be constructed layer by layer. This is required if the data is to be physically created during
manufacture. However, layer-by-layer construction need not mean the sandwiching of many
layers together. Another alternative is to create the medium in a form analogous to a roll of
adhesive tape.

8.3 DRIVE DESIGN

A drive designed to read and write to 3D optical data storage media may have a lot in
common with CD/DVD drives, particularly if the form factor and data structure of the media is
similar to that of CD or DVD. However, there are a number of notable differences that must be
taken into account when designing such a drive, including:

• Laser. Particularly when 2-photon absorption is utilized, high-powered lasers may be

required that can be bulky, difficult to cool, and pose safety concerns. Existing optical
drives utilize continuous wave diode lasers operating at 780 nm, 658 nm, or 405 nm.
3D optical storage drives may require solid-state lasers or pulsed lasers, and several
examples use wavelengths easily available by these technologies, such as 532 nm
(green). These larger lasers can be difficult to integrate into the read/write head of the
optical drive.
• Variable spherical aberration correction. Because the system must address different
depths in the medium, and at different depths the spherical aberration induced in the

Dept. of ECE 19 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

wave front is different, a method is required to dynamically account for these

differences. Many possible methods exist that include optical elements that swap in and
out of the optical path, moving elements, adaptive optics, and immersion lenses.
• Optical system. In many examples of 3D optical data storage systems, several
wavelengths (colors) of light are used (e.g. reading laser, writing laser, signal;
sometimes even two lasers are required just for writing). Therefore, as well as coping
with the high laser power and variable spherical aberration, the optical system must
combine and separate these different colors of light as required.
• Detection. In DVD drives, the signal produced from the disc is a reflection of the
addressing laser beam, and is therefore very intense. For 3D optical storage however,
the signal must be generated within the tiny volume that is addressed, and therefore it is
much weaker than the laser light. In addition, fluorescence is radiated in all directions
from the addressed point, so special light collection optics must be used to maximize
the signal.
• Data tracking. Once they are identified along the z-axis, individual layers of DVD-like
data may be accessed and tracked in similar ways to DVD discs. The possibility of
using parallel or page-based addressing has also been demonstrated. This allows much
faster data transfer rates, but requires the additional complexity of spatial light
modulators, signal imaging, more powerful lasers, and more complex data handling.

Dept. of ECE 20 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

Figure 8.3 Examples of 3D optical data storage media.

9. HOLOGRAPHIC DATA STORAGE

Holographic data storage is a potential replacement technology in the area of high-
capacity data storage currently dominated by magnetic and conventional optical data storage.
In localized bit recording, where each bit of data is assigned to a particular location within the
storage volume, holographic storage distributes data throughout a volume in a delocalized way.
Magnetic data storage records information a bit at a time, but holographic storage is capable of

Dept. of ECE 21 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

recording and reading millions of bits in parallel, enabling data transfer rates greater than those
attained by optical storage.

A hologram is a recording of the optical interference pattern that forms at the

intersection of two coherent optical beams. Typically, light from a single laser is split into two
paths, the signal path and the reference path.

The beam that propagates along the signal path carries information, whereas the
Reference is designed to be simple to reproduce. A common reference beam is a plane wave: a
light beam that propagates without converging or diverging. The two paths are overlapped on
the holographic medium and the interference pattern between the two beams is recorded.

A key property of this interferometric recording is that when it is illuminated by a

readout beam, the signal beam is reproduced. In effect, some of the light is diffracted from the
readout beam to “reconstruct” a weak copy of the signal beam. If the signal beam was created
by reflecting light off a 3D object, then the reconstructed hologram makes the 3D object appear
behind the holographic medium.

If the hologram is recorded in a thin material such as the security hologram stamped
onto many credit cards the readout beam can differ in angle or wavelength from the reference
beam used for recording the image. However, if the hologram is recorded in a thick material,
the reconstructed object beam will only appear when the readout beam is nearly identical to the
original reference beam.

Dept. of ECE 22 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

9. 1 STORING AND RETRIEVING DIGITAL DATA

Figure 9.1 For data storage, information is put onto the object beam with a spatial light
Modulator and removed from a reconstructed object beam with a detector array

To use volume holography as a storage technology, digital data must be imprinted onto
the object beam for recording and then retrieved from the reconstructed object beam during
readout (Figure 9.1). The device for putting data into the system is called a spatial light
modulator (SLM) a planar array consisting of thousands of pixels. Each pixel is an independent
microscopic shutter that can either block or pass light using liquid-crystal or micro-mirror
technology. Liquid crystal panels and micro-mirror arrays with 1280_1024 elements are
commercially available due to the success of computer-driven projection displays. The pixels
in both types of devices can be refreshed over 1000 times per second, allowing the holographic
storage system to reach an input data rate of 1 Gbit per second-assuming that the laser power
and material sensitivities permit. The data are read using an array of detector pixels, such as a
CCD camera or CMOS sensor array. The object beam often passes through a set of lenses that
image the SLM pixel pattern onto the output pixel array, as shown in Figure 6. To maximize

Dept. of ECE 23 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

the storage density, the hologram is usually recorded where the object beam is tightly focused.
When the hologram is reconstructed by the reference beam, a weak copy of the original object
beam continues along the imaging path to the camera, where the optical output can be detected
and converted to digital data.

To access holographically-stored data, the correct reference beam must first be directed
to the appropriate spot within the storage media. With mechanical access (i.e., a spinning disk),
getting to the right spot is slow (long latency), but reading data out can be quick (firing a
pulsed laser when the disk is in the right position). While non-mechanical access leads to the
possibility for lower latency (fast beamsteerers such as acousto-optic deflectors or liquid
crystal beam steerers), if this is done with a CW laser then the beam must dwell on the
hologram, reconstructing it until a sufficient number of photons accumulate to differentiate
bright and dark pixels. A frequently mentioned goal is an integration time of about 1
millisecond, which implies that 1000 pages of data can be retrieved per second. If there are 1
million pixels per data page and each pixel stores one bit then the readout rate is 1 Gigabit per
second. This goal requires high laser power (at least 1 W), a storage material capable of high
diffraction efficiencies, and a detector with a million pixels that can be read out at high frame
rates.

Like other media, holographic media is divided into write once (where the storage
medium undergoes some irreversible change), and rewritable media (where the change is
reversible). Rewritable holographic storage can be achieved via the photorefractive effect in
crystals:

Dept. of ECE 24 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

10. DRAWBACKS
The highly attractive nature of 3D optical data storage, the development of commercial
products has taken a significant length of time. This is the result of the limited financial
backing that 3D optical storage ventures have received, as well as technical issues including:

• Destructive reading. Since both the reading and the writing of data are carried out with
laser beams, there is a potential for the reading process to cause a small amount of
writing. In this case, the repeated reading of data may eventually serve to erase it (this
also happens in phase change materials used in some DVDs). This issue has been
addressed by many approaches, such as the use of different absorption bands for each
process (reading and writing), or the use of a reading method that does not involve the
absorption of energy.
• Thermodynamic stability. Many chemical reactions that appear not to take place in
fact happen very slowly. In addition, many reactions that appear to have happened can
slowly reverse themselves. Since most 3D media are based on chemical reactions, there
is therefore a risk that either the unwritten points will slowly become written or that the
written points will slowly revert to being unwritten.
• Media sensitivity. 2-photon absorption is a weak phenomenon, and therefore high
power lasers are usually required to produce it. Researchers typically use Ti-sapphire
lasers or Nd:YAG lasers to achieve excitation, but these instruments are not suitable for
use in consumer products

Dept. of ECE 25 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

CONCLUSION
The 3D optical data storage has two main variants of volumetric storage: localized bit
and holographic. Each has shown promise in initial research studies, and each shows the
potential to significantly out perform conventional storage technologies in at least one of the
desirable `black box' specifications (capacity, input and output data rates, latency, cost, system
volume, and power consumption). Serial storage of localized bits throughout a multilayered
disk offers to increase the capacity of a standard optical disk with moderate changes to the
readout optics (and the disk fabrication infrastructure). Parallel readout then can be added to
increase readout rate, with the degree of modification to conventional readout systems
depending on the degree of parallelism.

Holographic storage, which distributes or delocalizes data throughout a volume with

interference fringes, can take two forms. The first, using read write inorganic crystals, can offer
sub millisecond access to large (Terabyte) blocks of data while still offering some degree of
media removability. The second, using millimeter thick disks of write once media, offers high
capacity in the conventional spinning disk format.

The future of these volumetric storage technologies is hard to predict: some of the
storage methods described here may never progress past the research stage.

Dept. of ECE 26 Jyothi Engineering College

3D Optical Data Storage Seminar ‘08

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/7146/19259/00890774.pdf?arnumber=890774
[2] ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/6851/18411/00848009.pdf?arnumber=848009
[3] http://www.colossalstorage.net
[4] SPIE Conference on Nano-and Micro-Optics for Information Systems, Paper 5225–16
“ Three-dimensional optical storage “-Geoffrey W. Burr
IBM Almaden Research Center,
[5] E. Hecht, Optics, Addison-Wesley, 2nd ed.,
[6]. M. Mansuripur, The physical principles of Magneto- optical recording,

Dept. of ECE 27 Jyothi Engineering College