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US 2003/0156523 A1Published application
Optical storage system
AssigneeUniversity of Massachusetts
InventorsPengfei Wu, D.V.G.L.N. Rao
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AssigneeUniversity of Massachusetts
InventorsPengfei Wu, D.V.G.L.N. Rao
Estimating the term…
The present invention includes an optical system to control and optimize molecular reorientation for information storage. A preferred embodiment of the invention utilizes light sources emitting at wavelengths centered on or around the absorption bands of the storage medium. The light can be selectively polarized to control orientation of molecular components of organic material to provide non-volatile storage of large amounts of information. This provides an alternative to magnetic, electric, magneto-optical, or electro-optical methods which are complex and expensive. The all-optical holographic method in accordance with the present invention provides a storage system with extremely high memory capacity. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a system for optically storing and retrieving data includes optically recording (writing) and retrieving (reading) with the same wavelength beam, for example, without additional conditions such as an electric or magnetic field.
An optical storage medium comprising a polymer material having an optically activated molecular transition between a first geometric orientation and a second geometric orientation, the medium being writeable and readable with light within a wavelength band.
A system for optically recording information in a storage medium comprising a first coherent light source and a second light source that are optically coupled to a storage medium such that the medium is irradiated with coherent light with a first polarization component and irradiated with light from the second light source having a second polarization component.
A method for forming a non-volatile storage system, comprising the steps of
A method for optimizing reorientation of photoisomeric molecules, comprising the steps:
A method for optically writing information to a medium comprising a polymer material having photoisomeric material, comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.