Valencia Allyssa Mae M.

VIII. Optical Devices (definitions)

Optical devices are those which somehow use light or any principle of light to complete its functionality.

Here are some example of the Optical devices:

Dvd players use laser light to read content from the disc.
Optical fiber use laser ray to transfer data.
Mouse use red led or blue led to locate the pointer accordingly.
Tv remotes use IR ray to control the tv.
Stroboscope use flickering light to determine the speed of a rotating object.

-Optical Disk (definitions)

An Optical Disc or Laser Disc is a plastic-coated flat, generally circular in shape that stores digital data.
Tiny pits are etched into the disk surface that are read with a laser scanning the surface. The optical disk
is an analog video optical disk format. The original format provided full bandwidth composite video and
two analog audio tracks (digital audio tracks were added later). The data is stored on the disc with a
laser or stamping machine, and can be accessed when the data path is illuminated with a laser diode in
an optical disc drive which spins the disc. The reverse side of an optical disc usually has a printed label,
generally made of paper but sometimes printed or stamped onto the disc itself. This (non-encoded) side
of the disc is typically coated with a transparent material, usually lacquer. Optical discs are most
commonly used for storing music (e.g. for use in a CD player), video (e.g. for use in a DVD player), or
data and programs for personal computers

- Origin of Optical Disk / Historical Significance

Optical Disc was first invented by David Paul Gregg in 1958. He named it Videodisk and patented the
technology in 1961 and 1969. Gregg's company Gauss Electrophysics was acquired by MCA in the early
1960s. MCA also bought the patent rights for the optical disk which included the process for making a
video record disc and other optical disk technology. In 1978, MCA Discovision released the first
consumer Optical disk player in Atlanta, Georgia.
Types of Optical Disk

Following are the major types of optical disks:

 CD-ROM

 DVD

 WORM Disks

 Rewritable Optical Disks

CD-ROM

CD-ROM stands for compact disk read-only memory. The data stored on CD-ROM can only be read. It
cannot be deleted or changed. CD-ROM is a portable storage device. The data can be transferred easily
by using CD-ROM. It can store about 650MB of data.

Uses of CD-ROM

 CD-ROM is mostly used to store a large amount of information like sound, color, graphics, and
videos.

 It is often used to distribute new application software and games.

Advantages of CD-ROM

 It is the least expensive way to store large amounts of data and information.

 CD-ROM disks are durable and easy to handle.

  Information can be stored on CD-ROM for many years.

Disadvantages of CD-ROM

 The data cannot be edited.

 It retrieves data and information more slowly than magnetic disks.

Digital Video Disk (DVD)

DVD stands for digital video disk. It is similar to CD-ROM. It uses a laser beam with a short
wavelength. The short wavelength reads smaller holes on the disk.

The data storage capacity of the disk is increased it the hole size is small. So the storage
capacity of DVD ROM is much greater than CD-ROM. It can store up to 17 GB of data.

WORM Disks

WORM stands for write once read many. It can only be read and cannot be updated or
changed. It can store greater volumes of information than CD-ROM. Its capacity is 200 GB.
Rewritable Optical Disks

It uses several technologies to combine optical and magnetic disk technology to enable read
and write storage. A 5 ½ inch rewritable disk can store up to 5 GB. These are normally used for
applications using large volumes of storage with little update activity.

Optical Disk Advantages And Disadvantages

Advantages

The advantages of using this type of optical drive are many, including:

 It can be easily connected to a laptop or in any case.

 The second advantage is that it is very easy to connect and will be detected in most
operating systems.

 Finally, no special software is required to install and use it.

 And it can easily be used to burn all types of optical discs such as CDs and DVDs.

Disadvantages
The disadvantages of using an external optical drive versus its advantages are very small,
including:

 its lifespan is shorter than that of an internal optical drive.

 Also, because the USB cable is used for connection, reading data is a little slower

- How does optical disk work?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGER86jzWXw

- Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages of Optical Disks:

 Cost
The total cost involves when you look at the manufacturing is low Optical disks since only
aluminum foils and plastics are involved within the production. Hence, the users in many cases
are benefited from the worth of buying optical disks in bulk. And a lot of computers include
optical disc Drive from its manufacturer that is respective in that the users don’t have to
purchase them separate.

 Durability
Optical disks are more durable than both Volatile and memories that are non-Volatile. It’s not
subjected to wear and now any charged power failures may cause data losses. Therefore, it
should last long for many years. Nevertheless, it’s not completely protected against scratching,
heat as well as other sorts of physical damages.

 Simplicity 
The approach to back up is created much simpler using Optical disks. No matter what the data
that really must be burnt must be placed in the drive icon. Then in just clicking on ” Burn Disk ”
the users can back up the info
  Stability
Optical disks usually provides a level that is high of. This is because unlike magnetic disks, it’s not
prone to electromagnetic fields and other sorts of environmental influences.

Disadvantages of optical disc:

 Security
When the Optical disks are employed for backup purposes, it must be kept safe through the
hands of thieves. Thanks to its size, the optical disks are more at risk of loss and theft.

 Capacity
Optical disks cost more per GB/TB than the other sorts of storage drives. And it also to don’t
have a lot of or no storage capacity when compared with them. Unless it’s a Blu-ray disc, the
utmost storage the Optical disks offers is 4.7GB.

 Reliability
Unlike flash drives, Optical disks aren’t protected by any plastic casings. Therefore, they may be
susceptible to scratching which makes the disk unreadable. The info thereon cannot be
recovered anymore,

 Duplication
Making a replica copy employing an optical disc isn’t easier because this indicates on a USB flash
drive. When it comes to way of burning there should be a software that is separate hardware.
Albeit there are lots of party that is third for this function, the latest versions of windows
consists of a write-up software.

- Difference of Optical Disk, THEN and NOW (difference between appearances, uses, and/or any
differences)
First-generation
From the start optical discs were used to store broadcast-quality analog video, and later digital media
such as music or computer software. The LaserDisc format stored analog video signals for the
distribution of home video, but commercially lost to the VHS videocassette format, due mainly to its
high cost and non-re-recordability; other first-generation disc formats were designed only to store
digital data and were not initially capable of use as a digital video medium.

Other factors that affect data storage density include: the existence of multiple layers of data on the
disc, the method of rotation (Constant linear velocity (CLV), Constant angular velocity (CAV), or zoned-
CAV), the composition of lands and pits, and how much margin is unused is at the center and the edge
of the disc.

 Compact disc (CD) and derivatives

o Audio CD
o Video CD (VCD)
o Super Video CD
o CD Video
 LaserDisc
 GD-ROM
 Phase-change Dual
 Double Density Compact Disc (DDCD)
 Magneto-optical disc
 MiniDisc (MD)
o MD Data
 Write Once Read Many (WORM)

Second-generation

Second-generation optical discs were for storing great amounts of data, including broadcast-
quality digital video. Such discs usually are read with a visible-light laser (usually red); the
shorter wavelength and greater numerical aperture allow a narrower light beam, permitting
smaller pits and lands in the disc. In the DVD format, this allows 4.7 GB storage on a standard
12 cm, single-sided, single-layer disc; alternatively, smaller media, such as the Data Play
format, can have capacity comparable to that of the larger, standard compact 12 cm disc.

 DVD and derivatives

  DVD-Audio
 Dual Disc
 Digital Video Express (DIVX)
 DVD-RAM
 Nintendo GameCube Game Disc (mini DVD derivative)
 Wii Optical Disc (DVD derivative)
 Super Audio CD (SACD)
 Enhanced Versatile Disc
 Data Play
 Hi-MD
 Universal Media Disc (UMD)
 Ultra Density Optical

Third-generation
Third-generation optical discs are used for distributing high-definition video and videogames
and support greater data storage capacities, accomplished with short-wavelength visible-light
lasers and greater numerical apertures. Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD uses blue-violet lasers and
focusing optics of greater aperture, for use with discs with smaller pits and lands, thereby
greater data storage capacity per layer. In practice, the effective multimedia presentation
capacity is improved with enhanced video data compression codecs such as H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
and VC-1.

 Blu-ray (up to 400 GB - experimenta)

 Wii U Optical Disc (25 GB per layer)
 HD DVD (discontinued disc format, up to 51 GB triple layer)
 CBHD (a derivative of the HD DVD format)
 HD VMD
 Professional Disc
Announced but not released:
 Digital Multilayer Disk
 Fluorescent Multilayer Disc
 Forward Versatile Disc

Fourth-generation
The following formats go beyond the current third-generation discs and have the potential to hold more
than one terabyte (1 TB) of data and at least some are meant for cold data storage in data centers:

 Archival Disc

 Holographic Versatile Disc

Announced but not released:

 LS-R

 Protein-coated disc 

 Stacked Volumetric Optical Disc

 5D DVD

 3D optical data storage (not a single technology, examples are Hyper CD-ROM and Fluorescent

Multilayer Disc)

Source:

https://targetstudy.com/knowledge/invention/19/optical-disc.html

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-optical-disks/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc

https://sciencerack.com/4-types-of-optical-disk-with-applications-and-advantages/