Holographic STORAGE

Holographic storage is computer storage that uses laser beams to store computer-generated data in three dimensions.

Storing information throughout the volume of a medium—not just on its surface—offers an intriguing high-capacity alternative. Holographic data storage is a volumetric approach which, although conceived decades ago, has made recent progress toward practicality with the appearance of lower-cost enabling technologies, significant results from longstanding research efforts, and progress in holographic recording materials.

In holographic data storage, an entire page of information is stored at once as an optical interference pattern within a thick, photosensitive optical material.

In addition to high storage density, holographic data storage promises fast access times, because the laser beams can be moved rapidly without inertia, unlike the actuators in disk drives. With the inherent parallelism of its pagewise storage and retrieval, a very large compound data rate can be reached by having a large number of relatively slow, and therefore low-cost, parallel channels.