3D Volume Holographic Storage/Retrieval System

We propose to develop a high compact, low cost, and high performance 3D volume holographic storage and retrieval system by employing novel opto-electronic devices. In this approach, the holographic medium - photorefractive crystal is spatially partitioned into a 3D grid of multiple holographic sub-volumes. In each sub-volume, multiple page-oriented holograms are superimposed by wavelength multiplexing. The advantages of the approach are compact design, i.e. suitable for system packaging and immune from air turbulence and system vibration; low cost, i.e. cheaper than semiconductor DRAM; and high performance, i.e. capacity larger than 10(11) bits/cm3, random access time faster than l us, throughput larger than lTbits/sec., and diffraction efficiency larger than 1%. The Market of optical storage are sizable (about $30 billion/year) and applications are numerous, including both military and commercial. The successful completion of this project in Phase I will provide a solid foundation for building a fully functioning prototype of compact information storage and retrieval system in Phase II and its commercialization in Phase III.