High Capacity, High Speed, 3-D Disk Based Database

We propose to build a database system based on 3-D holographic memory disks. The storage capacity of the proposed system is 4 terabits per disk. In addition, all the data within the database can be searched in 80 seconds, an equivalent readout rate of 50 gigabits/second. In comparison, to search through a conventional optical disk based database of 4 terabits would require 4.7 days. The recording rate of the proposed system of 130 megabits/second is about 10 times as fast as conventional optical disk systems. The projected performance is accomplished by taking advantage of the most basic properities of optical computing, 2-D parallelism, and 3-D system configuration. The proposed system exploits the best capabilities of optics and electronics by using specialized optoelectronic chips -- reading data from a dense 3-D optical memory and processing data with flexible electronic circuitry. The proposed system will be built with components that are commericially available and/or are based on well developed technologies. This concept of utilizing available components allows us to demonstrate the capabilities of optics in a useful and practical way. Anticipated Benefits: If successful, the proposed research will prove the feasibility of a database system that has high storage capacity and all its data can be searched at a very high speed. Applications that can benefit from the project include any system that needs to rapidly search and retrieve information from a large database.