1.

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview
Current optical data storage media, such as the CD and DVD store data as a series of
reflective marks on an internal surface of a disc. In order to increase storage capacity, it is
possible for discs to hold two or even more of these data layers, but their number is severely
limited since the addressing laser interacts with every layer that it passes through on the way to
and from the addressed layer. These interactions cause noise that limits the technology to
approximately 10 layers. 3D optical data storage methods circumvent this issue by using
addressing methods where only the specifically addressed voxel(volumetric pixel) interacts
substantially with the addressing light. This necessarily involves nonlinear data reading and
writing methods, in particular nonlinear optics.

1.2 Optical storage

Optical storage is any storage type in which data is written and read with a laser.
Typically, data is written to optical media such as compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs
(DVDs). At one time, optical discs were considered a potential replacement for hard disk drives
(HDDs) in computing systems, but their lack of growth in capacity compared to both HDDs and
later flash-based solid-state drives (SSDs) has relegated optical storage use mostly to long-term
archiving and data backup.

The best medium for data storage has been a main concern over the past decades. The
main digital circulation has been the optical data storage which has been being improved to
accommodate new changes in technology and applications. With time, optical data storage has
had various limitations such as space and speed have demanded more improvements leading
two-dimensional storage devices. These, however, have their limitations which that have
demanded more improvement resulting in the three dimension data storage which overcomes all
the other limitations due to speed and accommodation of a large amount of data. Optical data
storage involves storage of data in an optically readable medium such as storage discs where a
device referred to as optical drive uses laser beams to burn bumps of data in writing data on the
optically readable medium. The laser beam facilitates the recording of the data on a special

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material on the optically readable medium. Data are usually stored on the optically readable
medium in a spiral manner where it starts working especially when being read from the
innermost section of the medium going outwards. Data from these mediums is read using a
device known as optical drive found in computers this storage and reading has been through a
two-dimension resolution. Three-dimensional optical data storage, therefore, is any way in which
data can be stored and read in a three-dimensional resolution.

3D optical data storage is the term given to any form of optical data storage in which
information can be recorded and/or read with three dimensional resolution (as opposed to the two
dimensional resolution afforded, for example, by CD).This innovation has the potential to
provide petabyte-level mass storage on DVD-sized disks. Data recording and readback are
achieved by focusing lasers within the medium. However, because of the volumetric nature of
the data structure, the laser light must travel through other data points before it reaches the point
where reading or recording is desired. Therefore, some kind of nonlinearity is required to ensure
that these other data points do not interfere with the addressing of the desired point.

What is 3D about it?

Here, information can be recorded and/or read with three-dimensional resolution (as
opposed to the two dimensional resolution afforded, for example, by CD). 3D optical data
storage is an experimental storage technology. It is predicted to offer exponentially more storage
capacity than today’s data storage technologies. Researchers have developed working 3D optical
data storage devices. But the technology is not yet commercially available due to design issues.

How does it differ from other data storage?

This innovation has the potential to provide petabyte-level (1024 TB) mass storage on
DVD-sized disks. Current optical data storage media are the CD and DVD. They store data as a
series of reflective marks on an internal surface of a disc. In order to increase storage capacity,
two or even more of these data layers may be added. But their number is severely limited. The
laser interacts with every layer that it passes through on the way to and from the addressed layer.
These interactions cause noise that limits the technology to approximately10layers.

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3D optical data storage methods dodge this issue by using methods where only the specifically
addressed voxel (volumetric pixel) interacts substantially with the addressing light. This requires
nonlinear data reading and writing methods, in particular nonlinear optics. Here also the laser
light must travel through other data points till it reaches the point where reading or recording is
desired. Nonlinearity ensures that these other data points do not interfere with the addressing of
the desired point.

Construction

A prototypical 3D optical data storage system may use a disk that looks much like a
transparent DVD. The disc contains many layers of information, each at a different depth in the
media and each consisting of a DVD-like spiral track. The distance between layers may be 5 to
100 micro meters, allowing >100 layers of information to be stored on a single disc. So the
average thickness of a disc can be predicted to be around say 100 times 50 micro meters. This is
equal to 5 millimetres. Clearly these discs are going to be thicker than the CDs and DVDs.

1.3 Optical recording technology and Applications:

Optical storage systems consist of a drive unit and a storage medium in a rotating disk
form. In general the disks are pre-formatted using grooves and lands (tracks) to enable the
positioning of an optical pick-up and recording head to access the information on the disk. Under
the influence of a focused laser beam emanating from the optical head, information is recorded
on the media as a change in the material characteristics. The disk media and the pick-up head are
rotated and positioned through drive motors controlling the position of the head with respect to
data tracks on the disk. Additional peripheral electronics are used for control and data acquisition
and encoding/decoding.

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 Fig: 1.2 - Optical Storage

 Storage Capacity:

The storage capacity of an optical storage system is a direct function of spot size (minimum
dimensions of a stored bit) and the geometrical dimensions of the media. A good metric to
measure the efficiency in using the storage area is the areal density (MB/sq. in.).

 Data Transfer Rate:

The data transfer rate of an optical storage system is a critical parameter in applications
where long data streams must be stored or retrieved, such as for image storage or backup. Data
transfer rate is a combination of the linear density and the rotational speed of the drive.

 Access time:

The access time of an optical storage system is a critical parameter in computing applications
such as transaction processing; it represents how fast a data location can be accessed on the disk.

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1.4 History

The origins of the field date back to the 1950s, when Yehuda Hirshberg developed
the Photochromic Spiropyrans and suggested their use in data storage. In the 1970s, Valerii
Barachevskii demonstrated that this Photochromism could be produced by two–photon
excitation, and finally at the end of the 1980s Peter M. Rentzepis showed that this could lead to
three-dimensional data storage. Most of the developed systems are based to some extent on the
original ideas of Rentzepis. A wide range of physical phenomena for data reading and recording
have been investigated, large numbers of chemical systems for the medium have been developed
and evaluated, and extensive work has been carried out in solving the problems associated with
the optical systems required for the reading and recording of data. Currently, several groups
remain working on solutions with various levels of development and interest in
commercialization.

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 2. HOLOGRAPHIC DATA STOTRAGE
A hologram is a three-dimensional image which is created as light beams (e.g., from a
laser) merge together. Typically a laser beam is split into two paths Data and reference beams are
directed into the storage medium such as a crystal. While it might sound like something from
Star Wars, holographic storage has very real possibilities and opportunities for implementation.

2.1Hologram

A hologram (pronounced HOL-o-gram ) is a three-dimensional image, created with

photographic projection. The term is taken from the Greek words holos (whole)
and gramma (message). Unlike 3-D or virtual reality on a two-dimensional computer display, a
hologram is a truly three-dimensional and free-standing image that does not simulate spatial
depth or require a special viewing device. Theoretically, holograms could someday be
transmitted electronically to a special display device in your home and business.
A hologram is a three-dimensional image formed by the interference of light beams from a laser
or other coherent light source. Typically, the signal path and the reference path are two paths into
which light from a single laser is split. The beam that propagates along the signal path carries
information whereas the reference beam is designed to be simple to reproduce. A light beam that
propagates without converging or diverging, i.e. a plane wave is used as a common reference
beam. Interference pattern between the two beams is recorded by overlaying the two paths on the
holographic medium. A significant property of this recording is that when illuminated by a
readout beam, the signal beam is replicated. Actually since some light is diffracted from the
readout beam, a weak copy of the signal beam is reconstructed. The reconstructed hologram
makes a 3D object appear behind the holographic medium if the signal beam was created by
reflecting light off that 3D object. When the hologram is recorded in a the material the readout
beam can vary from the reference beam used for recording and the scene will still appear.

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 Fig: 2.1 – After recording a hologram with object and reference beam

The digital data to be stored must be reproduced onto the object beam for recording, and then
recovered from the reconstructed object beam during readout- this is how volume holography is
used as a storage technology. The input device for the system is called a spatial light modulator,
or SLM. The SLM is a planar array of thousands of pixels; each pixel is an independent optical
switch that can be set to either block or pass light. The output device is a similar array of
detector pixels, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera or CMOS pixel array.

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Fig: 2.1.1 - For data storage, information is put onto the object beam with SLM and removed
from the reconstructed object beam with a detector array.

The imaging path between the input pixel array and the output pixel array is where the
hologram can be formed. To maximize storage density, the hologram should be recorded where
the object beam achieves a tight focus. Upon reconstruction of the hologram by the reference
beam, the object beam continues along the original imaging path, where the optical output can
be detected by the camera in parallel and converted to digital data. Capacity and readout rate
are maximized when each detector pixel is matched to a single pixel on the SLM array.

2.2 Holographic 3D Disks

Moving the storage material and leaving optics and other components stationary
constitutes spatial multiplexing. The thickness of disk is about 1mm due to which many
holograms can be stored on the surface. A number of radial tracks are available and the motion
of head selects a track, and access to these tracks is provided by disk rotation. By improving the
surface density, the thickness can be increased, thereby increasing the number of holograms.
But this increases the surface area which may result in a decrease of the surface density. It
would be advantageous to fabricate the disk of about 1mm so as to yield a density of
approximately 100 bits per square micron. Even though the data is stored in 3D disk it is the
surface density that matter for most practical purposes. Another method for multiplexing
holograms on holographic disks is angle multiplexing. It would be convenient using a single
reference beam that could attain same density without a bulky deflector. This can be done by
considering a convergent or spherical beam which can be obtained by bringing in all the angles
simultaneously instead of one at a time.

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 3. METHODS OF OPTICAL STORAGE

Optical data storage techniques are categorized in three basic groups. Following techniques are
already in use:

 CD/DVD- Data is stored in reflective pits which are then scanned with a focused laser.
Disks of these types are easily replicated from a master disk.
 CD-Recordable- Reflective pits are thermally recorded by focused laser. Read only CDs
are of a higher density than CD-Recordable devices.
 Magneto-optic disks- A combination of magnetic field and focused laser are used to record
spots in the disks.

3.1 Surface or 2D recording

The following techniques cannot be used due to some issues:

 Near-field optical recording- Placing a small light source close to the disk is used to
achieve higher 2D density as compared to conventional surface recording. Light turnout
and readout speed are concerns.
 Optical tape- Parallel optical I/O has no long-term interaction between tape layers wound.
Flexible photosensitive media is a problem.

3.2 Volumetric recording

Holographic- Interference fringes store data with vastly paralleled I/O. But appropriate
recording material is still needed.
Spectral hole burning- A tunable narrowband laser is used to address a small subset of
molecules. Else, all molecular subsets are addressed with ultra-short laser pulses and may add a
fourth storage dimension to holography but requires cryogenic temperatures and materials
development.

3.3 Bit-by-bit 3D recording

Sparsely layered disks- To access the inner layers, the focus of the CD laser is modified.

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Densely layered disks- A tightly focused beam is to write small markings in a continuous or
layered material.

4. STORAGE MATERIALS

4.1 Read-write materials

Most read-write materials are inorganic photorefractive crystals doped with transition
elements such as iron or rare-earth ions such as praseodymium, grown in large cylinders. Thick
holograms are made possible by cutting and polishing large samples. Photo-ionized electrons
are transported and trapped when these materials react to the light and dark regions of an
interference pattern. These crystals exhibit a linear photo-electric effect. This creates a trapped
charge which thereby creates electrical fields which give rise to a suitable phase or index for
diffracting light. This leads to refraction index becoming identical to the spatial variations in
light intensity present in the interference pattern. The trapped charge can be reorganized by
ensuing illumination, which makes it possible to erase recorded holograms and replace them
with new ones.

4.2 Write-once materials

Irreversible photochemical reactions are triggered by the bright regions of the optical
interference pattern while writing permanent volume holograms. For example, a photopolymer
material will polymerize (bind short monomer chains together to form long molecular chains)
in response to optical illumination. However, contrastingly the molecules in a photochromic
material undergo a change in their absorption behavior. Such materials are inexpensive to
make in quantity. Authentic reproduction of the object is a problem in both types of materials-
shrinkage causes a problem in photopolymer materials whereas oversensitivity to average local
intensity causes the problem in photochromic materials. Careful system design can minimize
these problems.

Other approaches to writing:

Other techniques for writing data in three-dimensions have also been examined, including:

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  Persistent spectral hole burning (PSHB), which also allows the possibility of spectral
multiplexing to increase data density. However, PSHB media currently requires
extremely low temperatures to be maintained in order to avoid data loss.
 Void formation, where microscopic bubbles are introduced into a media by high
intensity laser irradiation.

Chromophore poling: It is a process where the laser-induced re-orientation of chromophores in

the media structure leads to readable changes.

Data recording in a 3D optical storage medium requires that a change take place in the medium
upon excitation. If the photochemical change is reversible, then rewritable data storage may be
achieved.

Writing by non-resonant multiphoton absorption: Although there are many nonlinear optical
phenomena, only multiphoton absorption is capable of injecting into the media the significant
energy required to electronically excite molecular species and cause chemical reactions. Two-
photon absorption is the strongest multiphoton absorbance by far, but still it is a very weak
phenomenon, leading to low media sensitivity. Therefore, much research has been directed at
providing chromophores with high two-photon absorption cross-sections.

Writing by two-photon absorption: It can be achieved by focusing the writing laser on the
point where the photochemical writing process is required. The wavelength of the writing laser is
chosen such that it is not linearly absorbed by the medium, and therefore it does not interact with
the medium except at the focal point. At the focal point two-photon absorption becomes
significant, because it is a nonlinear process dependent on the square of the laser fluence.

Writing by two-photon absorption can also be achieved by the action of two lasers in
coincidence. This method is typically used to achieve the parallel writing of information at once.
One laser passes through the media, defining a line or plane. The second laser is then directed at
the points on that line or plane that writing is desired. The coincidence of the lasers at these
points excited two-photon absorption, leading to writing photochemistry.

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 5. 3D STORAGE OF DATA: LOCALIZED - BIT

Localized-bit is an extension of standard disc storage: Data is not only available on the surface
of the disc but throughout its volume. The laser then reads the data through the medium, instead
of across the lands and pits of a traditional CD-ROM or DVD. As of the writing of this lesson,
the laser can be used to focus on one bit at a time, or which can read several bits of data at the
same time. The technology is still developing, however, and these advances will require changes
in hardware in order to read these new types of discs. While this method is viable, a solution with
much greater storage and retrieval potential is holographic data storage.

The image below is a cross-section of a 3D optical disc and how data is accessed:

Fig: 5 - A schematic diagram showing a cross-section of an optical 3D storage

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13
 6. COMPONENTS

The process of storing and retrieving data in optical devices requires special devices. The
following involves a description of some of these components.

6.1 Laser
Laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is a device used to generate
coherent and almost monochromatic radiation. The super directional electromagnetic radiation is
emitted somewhere in the ranges of sub millimeter through X-ray and Ultraviolet. The
fundamental attributes of a laser beam that make them ideal for optical recording are their
directionality, Coherence, Monochromaticity, and brightness. Krypton lasers, Argon ion lasers,
and diode lasers are used to record holograms on crystals.

6.2 Spatial Light Modulators (SLM)

During recording, the real image or data is converted to a single beam of light which intersects
with the reference beam. This conversion is done by a spatial light modulator device. The SLM
consists of an array of pixels that are usually composed of microscopic shatter that can be
controlled by a computer. LCD displays are also used in place of microscopic shutters. Every
SLM pixel corresponds to a bit of data. Therefore, the bits cause a shut or open in microscopic
shutters or go dark or transparent depending on the condition of the bit whether it 0 or 1.

6.3 Lens and Mirrors

The lenses and mirrors are the major components used to achieve an inverse transform and a
Fourier transforms optically. To form the transform a collimated beam projected on transparency
and the transform lens makes the parallel ray bundles make a convergence of the focal plane of
the lens. The back focal plane, referred to as the Fourier transform plane, is where the
transformation of the spatial image is done into a spatial frequency spectrum. The lens carries
out, at the speed of light a two dimensional Fourier transform, which leads to the formation of a
far-field diffraction pattern that can be observed on a screen placed on the transform plane. The
square of Fourier transform amplitude of the input signal determines the intensity of the pattern.
A spatial frequency lobe of the image is removed using a stop placed at particular frequency lobe

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on this plane. Two lenses are used in the processes, with the aperture of the lens limiting the
Fourier transform resolution and the second lens forming the inverse transform as well as
recovering the original signal.

6.4 Photorefractive Crystals

Photopolymers and photorefractive crystals are the two main materials used in the holographic
storage devices. To record data, photorefractive crystals of material such as BaTiO3 or LiNbO3
are used due to their optical properties such as high diffraction efficiency and high resolution.
Additionally, the materials also show the ability to store data permanently till erasure as well as
fast erasure through the application of an external stimulus such as ultraviolet light.

6.5 Photo Polymers

The recent advancement in technology is in the development of photopolymers that can be
used as a medium of holographic storages. Photopolymers have less thickness compared to
photorefractive crystals as polymers are usually limited by their optical quality and mechanical
stability. Some of the photopolymers used in the market include HRF-150 from DuPont. This
film from DuPont can reach 12bits/ μm2 when used with a thickness of 100 millimeters which is
much greater than DVD-ROM with a factor of 2. The imprinting of the pattern in the
photopolymer is done by inducing photochemical changes.

6.6 Charge Coupled Devices (CCD)

Charge-coupled devices are silicon-based devices that contain an array of wells and are
created through implants and a series of column. They provide the mechanism to convert optical
images to electrical signals.

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 7. PROCESSES FOR CREATING WRITTEN DATA

For the writing of data to take place in 3D optical storage, a change has to be made on the
recording medium which usually achieved through excitation. The change is usually a
photochemical reaction on the medium. In this, several chemical reactions that can effectively
work in this new storage have been researched on and they include photodecomposition,
polymerization, photo-isomerization as well as photobleachin. Investigators, however, have
mostly focused on photochromic materials which mostly consist of the Stilbenes, Azobenzenes,
and Spiropyrans. The writing works on the principle that if the photochemical used is reversible
it is possible to rewrite the data. Several methods used in recording data on three-dimensional
optical data storage include:

7.1 Non-resonant Multiphoton Absorption Writing Method

Significantly high energy is usually needed to both excite the molecules in the storage medium
electronically and result in a chemical reaction for this 3D writing method. This is only
achievable through the use of multi photon absorption as it has the capabilities of driving the
required energy in the storage media. So far, a two-photon absorption has been in use as it is
considered to be the most stronger in effecting the absorption of multiphoton although it is much
weaker causing media sensitivity. Writing is done by focusing the laser light being used in the
writing to the point where the writing process is needed. The writing wavelength travels I
nonlinear way interacting with the storage medium only at the focal point where two-photon
absorption takes place. Two laser coincidences can also be used to enable the two-photon
absorption writing method leading to parallel writing at the same time. In this case, the first laser
light causes a plane on the media while the second one goes to the plane created affecting the
writing where it is intended.

7.2 Sequential multiphoton absorption

This method is also referred to as “sequential” 2-photon absorbance and the two photons travel
at the same time to the writing media. The method is relatively weaker hence the 2-photons have

16
to be focused almost jointly to the chromophore to avoid losing the non-linearity way of laser
traveling and compromising the 3D resolution.

7.3 Micro Holography writing method

This is used in the recording of sub micrometre-sized holograms using collinear light beams
and uses photorefractive writing media.

7.4 Data recording method

This method is most common in the recording of commercial data where data is created
during the manufacture of the 3D optical storage media. This means no writing can be done on
the disk. The process uses very high laser light which eliminates issues of media sensitivity.
Some of the other data writing methods in 3D optical data storage include:

a) Chromophore poling method which involves reorientation of chromophores in the 3D media

using laser light which changes the chromophores to a readable form.

b) Persistent spectral hole burning (PSHB) method which uses low temperatures to avoid issues
of losing data in the writing processes.

c) The void formation which involves the introduction of microscopic bubbles into the 3D
writing media by use of high-intensity laser.

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 8. PROCESSES FOR READING DATA

The reading of data from 3D optical memories has been carried out in many different ways.
While some of these rely on the nonlinearity of the light-matter interaction to obtain 3D
resolution, others use methods that spatially filter the media's linear response. Reading methods
include:

 Two photon absorption (resulting in either absorption or fluorescence) - This method

is essentially two-photon microscopy.
 Linear excitation of fluorescence with confocal detection - This method is
essentially confocal laser scanning microscopy. It offers excitation with much lower laser
powers than does two-photon absorbance, but has some potential problems because the
addressing light interacts with many other data points in addition to the one being
addressed.
 Measurement of small differences in the refractive index between the two data states
- This method usually employs a phase-contrast microscope or confocal
reflection microscope. No absorption of light is necessary, so there is no risk of damaging
data while reading, but the required refractive index mismatch in the disc may limit the
thickness (i.e., number of data layers) that the media can reach due to the accumulated
random wavefront errors that destroy the focused spot quality.
 Second-harmonic generation – It has been demonstrated as a method to read data
written into a poled polymer matrix.
 Optical coherence tomography – It has also been demonstrated as a parallel reading
method.

9. MEDIA DESIGN

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 The active part of 3D optical storage media is usually an organic polymer either doped
or grafted with the photochemically active species. Alternatively, crystalline and sol-gel
materials have been used.

9.1 Media Form Factor

Media for 3D optical data storage have been suggested in several form factors: disk, card and
crystal. A disc media offers a progression from CD/DVD, and allows reading and writing to be
carried out by the familiar spinning disc method. A credit card form factor media is attractive
from the point of view of portability and convenience, but would be of a lower capacity than a
disc.

Several science fiction writers have suggested small solids that store massive amounts of
information, and at least in principle this could be achieved with 5D optical data storage.

9.2 Media Manufacturing

The simplest method of manufacturing – the molding of a disk in one piece – is a
possibility for some systems. A more complex method of media manufacturing is for the media
to be constructed layer by layer. This is required if the data is to be physically created during
manufacture. However, layer-by-layer construction need not mean the sandwiching of many
layers together. Another alternative is to create the medium in a form analogous to a roll of
adhesive tape.

10. DRIVE DESIGN

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 A drive designed to read and write to 3D optical data storage media may have a lot in
common with CD/DVD drives, particularly if the form factor and data structure of the media is
similar to that of CD or DVD. However, there are a number of notable differences that must be
taken into account when designing such a drive.

10.1 Laser
Particularly when two-photon absorption is utilized, high-powered lasers may be required
that can be bulky, difficult to cool, and pose safety concerns. Existing optical drives
utilize continuous wave diode lasers operating at 780 nm, 658 nm, or 405 nm. 3D optical storage
drives may require solid-state lasers or pulsed lasers, and several examples use wavelengths
easily available by these technologies, such as 532 nm (green). These larger lasers can be
difficult to integrate into the read/write head of the optical drive.

10.2 Variable spherical aberration correction

Because the system must address different depths in the medium, and at different depths
the spherical aberration induced in the wavefront is different, a method is required to
dynamically account for these differences. Many possible methods exist that include optical
elements that swap in and out of the optical path, moving elements, adaptive optics and
immersion lenses.

10.3 Optical system

In many examples of 3D optical data storage systems, several wavelengths (colors) of
light are used (e.g. reading laser, writing laser, signal; sometimes even two lasers are required
just for writing). Therefore, as well as coping with the high laser power and variable spherical
aberration, the optical system must combine and separate these different colors of light as
required.

10.4 Detection
In DVD drives, the signal produced from the disc is a reflection of the addressing laser
beam, and is therefore very intense.

For 3D optical storage however, the signal must be generated within the tiny volume that
is addressed, and therefore it is much weaker than the laser light. In addition, fluorescence is

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radiated in all directions from the addressed point, so special light collection optics must be used
to maximize the signal.

10.5 Data tracking

Once they are identified along the z-axis, individual layers of DVD-like data may be
accessed and tracked in similar ways to DVDs.

The possibility of using parallel or page-based addressing has also been demonstrated. This
allows much faster data transfer rates, but requires the additional complexity of spatial light
modulators, signal imaging, more powerful lasers, and more complex data handling.

11. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

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 Despite the highly attractive nature of 3D optical data storage, the development of
commercial products has taken a significant length of time. This results from limited financial
backing in the field, as well as technical issues, including:

 Destructive reading: Since both the reading and the writing of data are carried out with
laser beams, there is a potential for the reading process to cause a small amount of
writing. In this case, the repeated reading of data may eventually serve to erase it (this
also happens in phase change materials used in some DVDs). This issue has been
addressed by many approaches, such as the use of different absorption bands for each
process (reading and writing), or the use of a reading method that does not involve the
absorption of energy.
 Thermodynamic stability: Many chemical reactions that appear not to take place in fact
happen very slowly. In addition, many reactions that appear to have happened can slowly
reverse themselves. Since most 3D media are based on chemical reactions, there is
therefore a risk that either the unwritten points will slowly become written or that the
written points will slowly revert to being unwritten. This issue is particularly serious for
the spiropyrans, but extensive research was conducted to find more stable chromophores
for 3D memories.
 Media sensitivity:  Two-photon absorption is a weak phenomenon, and therefore high
power lasers are usually required to produce it. Researchers typically use Ti-sapphire
lasers or Nd:YAG lasers to achieve excitation, but these instruments are not suitable for
use in consumer products.

11.1 Academic Development

Much of the development of 3D optical data storage has been carried out in universities. The
groups that have provided valuable input include:

 Peter T. Rentzepis was the originator of this field, and has recently developed materials free
from destructive readout.
 Watt W. Webb co developed the two-photon microscope in Bell Labs, and showed 3D
recording on photorefractive media.
 Masahiro Irie developed the diarylethene family of photochromic materials.

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 Yoshimasa Kawata, Satoshi Kawata, and Zouheir Sekkat have developed and worked on
several optical data manipulation systems, in particular involving poled polymer systems.
 Kevin C Belfield is developing photochemical systems for 3D optical data storage by the use
of resonance energy transfer between molecules, and also develops high two–photon cross-
section materials.
 Seth Marder performed much of the early work developing logical approaches to the
molecular design of high two–photon cross-section chromophores.
 Tom Milster has made many contributions to the theory of 3D optical data storage.
 Robert McLeod has examined the use of microholograms for 3D optical data storage.
 Min Gu has examined confocal readout and methods for its enhancement.

11.2 Commercial Development

In addition to the academic research, several companies have been set up to
commercialize 3D optical data storage and some large corporations have also shown an interest
in the technology.

However, it is not yet clear whether the technology will succeed in the market in the presence of
competition from other quarters such as hard drives, flash storage, and holographic storage.

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Fig: 11.2 - Examples of 3D optical data storage media. Top row – written Call/Recall media;
Mempile media. Middle row – FMD; D-Data DMD and drive. Bottom row – Landauer media;
Microholas media in action.

 Call/Recall was founded in 1987 on the basis of Peter Rentzepis' research. Using two–photon
recording (at 25 Mbit/s with 6.5 ps, 7 nJ, 532 nm pulses), one–photon readout (with 635 nm),
and a high NA (1.0) immersion lens, they have stored 1 TB as 200 layers in a 1.2 mm thick
disk. They aim to improve capacity to >5 TB and data rates to up to 250 Mbit/s within a
year, by developing new materials as well as high-powered pulsed blue laser diodes.
 Mempile are developing a commercial system with the name TeraDisc. In March 2007, they
demonstrated the recording and readback of 100 layers of information on a 0.6 mm thick
disc, as well as low crosstalk, high sensitivity, and thermodynamic stability. They intend to
release a red-laser 0.6-1.0 TB consumer product in 2010, and have a roadmap to a 5 TB blue-
laser product.
 Constellation 3D developed the Fluorescent Multilayer Disc at the end of the 1990s, which
was a ROM disk, manufactured layer by layer. The company failed in 2002, but the
intellectual property (IP) was acquired by D-Data Inc, who are attempting to introduce it as
the Digital Multilayer Disk (DMD).

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 Storex Technologies has been set up to develop 3D media based on fluorescent
photosensitive glasses and glass-ceramic materials. The technology derives from the patents
of the Romanian scientist Eugen Pavel, who is also the founder and CEO of the company. At
ODS2010 conference were presented results regarding readout by two non-fluorescence
methods of a Petabyte Optical Disc.
 Landauer Inc. are developing a media based on resonant two-photon absorption in
a sapphire single crystal substrate. In May 2007, they showed the recording of 20 layers of
data using 2 nJ of laser energy (405 nm) for each mark. The reading rate is limited to
10 Mbit/s because of the fluorescence lifetime.
 Colossal Storage aim to develop a 3D holographic optical storage technology based
on photon-induced electric field poling using a far UV laser to obtain large improvements
over current data capacity and transfer rates, but as yet they have not presented any
experimental research or feasibility study.
 Microholas operates out of the University of Berlin, under the leadership of Prof Susanna
Orlic, and has achieved the recording of up to 75 layers of microholographic data, separated
by 4.5 micrometres, and suggesting a data density of 10 GB per layer.
 3DCD Technology Pty. Ltd. is a university spin-off set up to develop 3D optical storage
technology based on materials identified by Daniel Day and Min Gu.
 Several large technology companies such as Fuji, Ricoh, and Matsushita have applied for
patents on two–photon-responsive materials for applications including 3D optical data
storage, however they have not given any indication that they are developing full data
storage solutions.

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 12. THREE-DIMENSIONAL PHOTONIC CRYSTAL OPTICAL
MEMORY SYSTEMS

Fig: 12 - 3D Photonic crystal

Different modifications of 3D optical memory units based on photonic band-gap structures can
be proposed, depending on the arrangement of writing and reading beams in space, as well as on
whether a one-, two, or multiphoton process is used to produce the luminescence readout signal.
In a 3D photonic crystal, the dielectric constant is tailor-made to vary periodically in three
dimensions, giving rise to a so-called photonic bandgap which prohibits electromagnetic
propagation and substantially modifies the dispersion around a specific wavelength (frequency)
region. 3D photonic crystals and their variants that contain specifically designed defect structures
to further modify their electromagnetic properties continue to attract intensive interest in the
quest to realize efficient dispersion engineering, micro integrated circuits, mirror-less lasers, and
other advanced photonic applications.  In a 3D photonic crystal, the dielectric constant is tailor-
made to vary periodically in three dimensions, giving rise to a so-called photonic band gap which
prohibits electromagnetic propagation and substantially modifies the dispersion around a specific
wavelength (frequency) region. 

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 13. COMPARISON WITH HOLOGRAPHIC DATA STORAGE:

Fig 13:

Holographic Video Disc and a DVD

3D optical data storage is related to (and competes with) holographic data storage. Traditional
examples of holographic storage do not address in the third dimension, and are therefore not
strictly "3D", but more recently 3D holographic storage has been realized by the use of
microholograms. Layer-selection multilayer technology (where a multilayer disc has layers that
can be individually activated e.g. electrically) is also closely related.

Holographic data storage is a potential replacement technology in the area of high-capacity data
storage currently dominated by magnetic and conventional optical data storage. Magnetic and
optical data storage devices rely on individual bits being stored as distinct magnetic or optical
changes on the surface of the recording medium. Holographic data storage overcomes this
limitation by recording information throughout the volume of the medium and is capable of
recording multiple images in the same area utilizing light at different angles.

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Additionally, whereas magnetic and optical data storage records information a bit at a time in a
linear fashion, holographic storage is capable of recording and reading millions of bits in
parallel, enabling data transfer rates greater than those attained by traditional optical storage.

13.1 Recording data:

Holographic data storage captures information using an optical interference pattern within a
thick, photosensitive optical material. Light from a single laser beam is divided into two separate
optical patterns of dark and light pixels. By adjusting the reference beam angle, wavelength, or
media position, a multitude of holograms (theoretically, several thousand) can be stored on a
single volume.Holographic data storage contains information using an optical interference
pattern within a thick, photosensitive optical material. Light from a single laser beam is divided
into two, or more, separate optical patterns of dark and light pixels. By adjusting the reference
beam angle, wavelength, or media position, a multitude of holograms (theoretically, several
thousands) can be stored on a single volume.

13.2 Reading Data

The stored data is read through the reproduction of the same reference beam used to create
the hologram. The reference beam's light is focused on the photosensitive material, illuminating
the appropriate interference pattern, the light diffracts on the interference pattern, and projects
the pattern onto a detector. The detector is capable of reading the data in parallel, over one
million bits at once, resulting in the fast data transfer rate. Files on the holographic drive can be
accessed in less than 0.2 seconds.

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 14. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES

Holographic storage is a strong contender for future storage options. It is being researched
by various companies in order to further increase the storage capacity. If the cost of
manufacture can be matched with the currently available storage options then a stronger role
can be envisaged for 3D data storage. Possible configurations in the future can be:
 Pre-recorded 3D disks supports more than 100 Gbytes and has readout rates more than
188 Mbits/sec. Appropriate applications are distributed computing, movies, and
multimedia.
 Volatile write-once, read-many drives support terabytes of storage, 1 Gbit/second
readout rates. Suitable applications include video on demand and large Web servers.
 Write-once 3D disks supporting more than 100 Gbytes, access time to 100 Mbyte
blocks of 10–100 milliseconds, with readout rates greater than 500 M bits/sec. Fitting
applications include archiving of data requiring permanent storage yet quick access,
such as healthcare data and satellite images.

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 15. CURRENT CHALLENGES

Particularly when 2-photon absorption is utilized, high-powered lasers may be required that
can be bulky, difficult to cool, and pose safety concerns.

 Since both the reading and the writing of data are carried out with laser beams, there is a
potential for the reading process to cause a small amount of writing. In this case, the
repeated reading of data may eventually serve to erase it. Although this issue has been
attempted to be solved by the use of different bands of absorption for reading and writing.
 Since both the reading and the writing of data are carried out with laser beams, there is a
potential for the reading process to cause a small amount of writing. In this case, the
repeated reading of data may eventually serve to erase it (this also happens in phase
change materials used in some DVDs). This issue has been addressed by many
approaches, such as the use of different absorption bands for each process (reading and
writing), or the use of a reading method that does not involve the absorption of energy.
 Many chemical reactions that appear not to take place in fact happen very slowly. In
addition, many reactions that appear to have happened can slowly reverse themselves.
Since most 3D media are based on chemical reactions, there is therefore a risk that either
the unwritten points will slowly become written or that the written points will slowly
revert to being unwritten. This issue is particularly serious for the spiropyrans, but
extensive research was conducted to find more stable chromophores for 3D memories.

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 CONCLUSION

Computers have become very important in our life because they provide us access to storage of
large amount of information. Conventional technologies have very limited amount of storage and
their storage capacity cannot be increased any further. Since storage needs are increasing at a
faster rate and conventional technologies are not able to keep the pace with demand for greater
and faster storage requirements. So a new type of data storage technique with increased
capabilities is required. These needs can be fulfilled by 3D Data Storage Devices. Further they
are cost effective in the sense that they have the lowest cost per byte. They will also have faster
data transfer rates compared to current technologies. 3D Data storage devices will have wide
range of applications in fields such as satellite data storage, space researches, digital libraries,
defense where large amount of data storage capacity is required. Hence we can undoubtedly say
that 3D Data storage provides an effective solution for tomorrow’s storage needs. Technology
has resulted in the use of computers in all areas. Though they provide good data storage, the
increased improvements in technology demand for high amount data storages and that can be
easily accessible. Further, the challenges posed by other data storage devices push for a move to
other improved and advanced data storages that have high capabilities; high speed and can
accommodate quite large data. These requirements are fulfilled by the use of 3- dimensional
optical data storage devices. The 3D device can be applied in various fields such as researches in
the space, storage of satellite data and relatively cheaper compared to current storage devices. As
a result, 3D optical data storage is the technology that best fits the future data storage needs.

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 REFERENCES

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_optical_data_storage
 http://www.riken.jp/lab-www/library/publication/review/pdf/No_49/49_052.pdf
 http://www.rsc.qut.edu.au/studentsstaff/training/Posters/QUT%20Research
%20Poster_Sando.pdf
 https://study.com/academy/lesson/3d-optical-data-storage-definition-explanation.html
 https://www.seminarsonly.com/computer%20science/3d-Optical-Data-Storage.php

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