Future Optical Computer Storage-Holographic Memory

Every year, we cannot fail to notice how computer systems increase greatly in speed, memory capacity and performance. A computer system bought today is, quite literally, out of date by tomorrow. As computers have become more advanced, the applications that they are used for have increased. Today, large files of sound and image data are frequently being stored. The need for greater data storage and faster data access is always increasing. Although conventional magnetic data storage is adapting well to these growing needs, it is reaching its fundamental limit. Improvements made to these conventional storage methods usually decreases access time. This is one of the reasons why a new technology using optical data storage is being developed. This new technology is called Holographic Memory.

Section 2 – What is Holographic Memory?

Holographic memory is a promising new storage technology, which offers massive increases in speed and capacity. It also offers extremely fast parallel data transfer.

Another promising feature of holographic memory is that there are no moving parts, i.e. no magnetic platters, as used in conventional hard drives. This

The signal beam then carries this data to the light sensitive crystal. Here, it is focused at a point where it interacts with the reference beam, and an interference pattern is formed. This pattern very slightly changes the molecular structure of the crystal, and the information is stored as a hologram.

Holographic computer storage works on a similar principle to the way a hologram is created. The two beams of light are made using a blue-green argon laser. The storage medium in this case is a photorefractive crystal, typically made from lithium-niobate. Just as before, the reference beam travels straight to the storage medium. The signal beam passes straight through a Spatial-Light Modulator (SLM).

The idea of angle multiplexing can be extended by having a disc covered in thousands of small crystals. Each crystal contains many angle-multiplexed holograms, and so the capacity of the disc is thousands of times bigger then a single crystal. This idea is known as Spatial Multiplexing.

Section 3.0 – How is a hologram created?

Some topics in this essay:
Memory Section, Multiplexing Section, SLM SLM, Memory Holographic, Device CCD, Multiplexing Information, holographic memory, reference beam, signal beam, information stored, data transfer, memory section, photographic film, data storage, laser light, hologram created, Holographic Memory, data transfer rates, †holographic memory, recording data transfer, slow recording data, pages binary data,