Optical storage system based on scanning interferometric near-field confocal microscopy
AssigneeZetetic Institute
InventorHenry Allen Hill
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A near-field, interferometric optical microscopy system includes: a beam splitter positioned to separate an input beam into a measurement beam and a reference beam; a mask positioned to receive the measurement beam, the mask comprising at least one aperture having a dimension smaller than the wavelength of the input beam, wherein the mask aperture is configured to couple at least a portion of the measurement beam to a sample to define a near-field probe beam, the sample interacting with the near-field probe beam to define a near-field signal beam; a detector having an element responsive to optical energy; and optics positioned to direct at least a portion of the reference beam and at least a portion of the near-field signal beam to interfere at the detector element.
Claims49
An optical storage system comprising:
- a beam splatter positioned to separate an input beam into a measurement beam and a reference beam;
- a mask positioned to receive the measurement beam, the mask comprising at least one aperture having a dimension smaller than the wavelength of the input beam, wherein the mask aperture is configured to couple at least a portion of the measurement beam to an optical storage medium to define a near-field probe beam, the storage medium interacting with the near-field probe beam to define a near-field signal beam;
- a detector having an element responsive to optical energy;
- and
- optics positioned to direct at least a portion of the reference beam and at least a portion of the near-field signal beam to interfere at the detector element.
An optical storage system comprising:
- a write beam source providing at least one write beam;
- a reference beam source providing at least one reference beam;
- an optical storage medium;
- a mask having an aperture positioned to couple at least a portion of the at least one write beam and at least a portion of the at least one reference beam to the optical storage medium, the aperture having a dimension smaller than the wavelength of the at least one write beam;
- a confocal imaging system positioned to couple the at least one write beam and the at least one reference beam to the mask;
- and
- an electromagnet positioned adjacent the optical storage medium.
A method for reading information from an optical storage medium comprising:
- separating an input beam into a measurement beam and a reference beam;
- directing the measurement beam to a mask comprising at least one aperture having a dimension smaller than the wavelength of the input beam, wherein the mask aperture couples at least a portion of the measurement beam to the optical storage medium to define a near-field probe beam, the storage medium interacting with the near-field probe beam to define a near-field signal beam;
- and
- measuring optical interference between at least a portion of the reference bear and at least a portion of the near-field signal beam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.