Abstract

We report a new optical storage technology (patent pending), and Its applications, which can provide 100,000 gigabytes of on-line storage with nanosecond read and write times, nanosecond access times, and in a volume of one cubic foot. The high storage density, and consequent short access time, is accomplished by three dimensional storage within an unstructured bulk storage medium at a storage density of one cubic micron per bit using visible light. The storage is effected by the photon echo phenomenon which decisively surmounts the problems faced by previous volumetric optical storage approaches. End user cost for production versions will be $100,000 (or 10^-8 cents per bit). The Navy is examining the development of a prototype for application to tactical air reconnaissance. The prototype will allow tactical reconnaissance imagery to be received, processed and analyzed in real time as an aid to command decision making. Ground based versions could be applied to the development of large, fully relational data bases due to the presence of Inherent logic elements associated with each bit of the storage system. Highly parallel Input and output capablity as well as the ability to store analog data make it feasible to use the system as an efficient interface point between analog and digital optical information processing systems.

© 1983 Optical Society of America