Architectures for high-capacity content-addressable holographic databases

A method for optical correlation, the method comprising the steps of:

• modulating a first beam of light with information of an image to-be-correlated;
• splitting the first beam of light into a plurality of first beams of light, each first beam of light corresponding to at least one hologram storage volume of a plurality of hologram storage volumes, each hologram storage volume being formed from an optical storage medium and storing a plurality of images;
• directing each respective first beam of light to a storage location in each respective hologram storage volume corresponding to the first beam of light;
• and
• detecting at least one reconstructed correlation peak at the correlation plane.

An optical storage system, comprising:

• a spatial light modulator modulating at least one first beam of light with information of an image to-be-stored;
• a plurality of hologram storage volumes, each hologram storage volume being formed from an optical storage medium and having at least one storage location for an image, the plurality of hologram storage volumes receiving the first beam of light and a second beam of light, the second beam of light being coherent with the first beam of light, each first beam of light being directed to at least one selected storage location in at least one hologram storage volume, the second beam of light being directed to at least one selected storage location in at least one of the plurality of hologram storage volumes and passing through each hologram storage volume, the information of the image to-be-stored being recorded at a selected storage location of a selected hologram storage volume based on an intersection of the first beam of light and the second beam of light in the selected hologram storage volume;
• and
• a correlation-plane detector on which the second beam of light is focussed at at least a localized portion of a correlation plane of the correlation-plane detector after passing through the selected hologram storage volume.

An optical correlation system, comprising:

• a plurality of hologram storage volumes, each hologram storage volume being formed from an optical storage medium and each having at least one storage location for an image,
• a spatial light modulator modulating a first beam of light with information of an image to-be-correlated, each first beam of light being directed to a selected storage location in at least one hologram storage volume and thereby generating a diffraction beam;
• and
• a correlation-plane detector on which the diffraction beam of light is focussed at at least a localized portion of a correlation plane of the correlation-plane detector, the correlation-plane detector detecting at least one reconstructed correlation peak at the correlation plane.