FREQUENCY SELECTIVE OPTICAL DATA STORAGE SYSTEM

摘要

FREQUENCY SELECTIVE OPTICAL DATA STORAGE SYSTEM of the Invention An optical data storage system and method that utilizes the frequency dimension to increase the storage capacity significantly. The system includes a storage material, for example, in the form of a block, adapted to undergo a photo induced reaction upon exposure to light and which exhibits inhomogeneous absorption line broadening. Data bits are stored by selective photo induced reactions induced by a narrow band laser at specific frequencies within the broad inhomogeneous line. The lifetime of these photo induced data bits is of the order of years so as to provide a nonvolatile storage system. In a preferred embodiment, a material is selected so that the photo induced reaction can be made reversible thereby permitting, when desired, the erasing of the data bits.