Abstract

Optical recording systems are communication systems in the sense that they can be used to send information from "now" to "then," rather than from "here" to "there." The usual communication system model has an information source, a transmission channel and an information destination. Information is transmitted through the channel by generating signals which are matched to the physical characteristics of the channel medium. The information is recovered by a receiver which has the job of associating a message with the received signal.

© 1984 Optical Society of America