storing thousands of megabytes of data three-dimensionally

Besides quicker data transfer speed, holographic information memory and processing systems also provide much more storage capacity than 2D systems. With 2D media, only the top is employed to save information. While blue laser and molecular engineering are making possible enhancements in information density, the requirements of upcoming applications may exceed the limits of two- dimensional magnetic and optical data storage density. Holographic data memory and processing "break the surface constraint" because various pages of information are stored three-dimensionally in overlaid slices throughout the thickness of the storage media. Large numbers of holographic pages may be recorded on a single holodisk or holographic cube. Different pages are stored and retrieved using reference rays with different incidence angles or wave phases. Data storage density for 3D holotechnology systems is orders of magnitude more than that of 2D systems. Gemfire provides expanded discussion.

In holographic data storage media, entire pages with as much as a megabyte of information are saved promptly, a page at a time, as optical interference patterns. Such patterns are save in an overlapping manner permeating the three-dimensional volume of photosensitive storage media. This differs from traditional information storage in which a series of information bits is saved sequentially on only the surface of the storage media. In the holographic data recording process, a laser ray is divided in two -- into a reference beam and a signal beam. The reference and signal beams are set at a specific wave phase like green, red or infrared. The signal beam is shown by means of a Spatial Light Modulator that converts a stream of electronic information into variation in signal ray wave phase and intensity. The signal and reference rays then overlap inside the photosensitive optical media. This initiates the information configuration to be burned into the storage media in the type of a hologram. In the holographic information data recovery process, a reference beam with identical features as the source reference ray is focused on the media at the identical angle, the hologram is recreated, and information is reconvertd from holographic to electronic form. Virtual Reality Phones also has related holotechnology information.

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