GENERAL I ARTICLE

Optical Computing
1. Optical Components and Storage Systems
Debabrata Goswami is at the
Tata Institute of Fundamen-
tal Research, Mumbai,
where he explores the
applications of ultrafast
shaped pulses to coherent
control, high-speed
communication and
computing . . He is also
associated as a Visiting
Faculty at lIT, Kanpur,
where he be teaching a
new course on Quantum
Computing. He had earlier
worked on developing the
first acousto-optic
lated ultrafast pulse shaper
as a part of his doctoral work
at Princeton.
Keywords
Advanced materials. optical
switching. pulse shaping. opti-
cal storage device. high-per-
formance computing. imaging,
nanotechnology. photonics.
telecommunications.
Debabrata Goswami
Optics has been used in computing for a number of years but
the main emphasis has been and continues to be to link
portions of computers, for communications, or more intrin-
sically in devices that have some optical application or
component (optical pattern recognition, etc). Optical digi-
tal computers are still some years away, however a number
of devices that can ultimately lead to real optical computers
have already been manufactured, including optical logic
gates, optical switches, optical interconnections, and opti-
cal memory. The most likely near-term optical computer
will really be a hybrid composed of traditional architectural
design along with some portions that can perform some
functional operations in optical mode.
Introduction
With today's growing dependence on computing technology,
the need for high performance computers (HPC) has signifi-
cantly increased. Many performance improvements in conven-
tional computers are achieved by miniaturizing electronic com-
ponents to very small micron-size scale so that electrons need to
travel only short distances within a very short time. This ap-
proach relies on the steadily shrinking trace size on microchips
(i.e., the size of elements that can be 'drawn' onto each chip).
This has resulted in the development of Very Large Scale
Integration (VLSI) technology with smaller device dimensions
and greater complexity. The smallest dimensions ofVLSI nowa-
days are about 0.08 mm. Despite the incredible progress in the
development and refinement of the basic technologies over the
past decade, there is growing concern that these technologies
may not be capable of solving the computing problems of even
the current millennium. Applications ofHPC and visualization

RESONANCE I June 2003
GENERAL I ARTICLE
technologies lead to breakthroughs in engineering and manu-
facturing in a wide range of industries. With the help of virtual
product design and development, costs can be reduced; hence
looking for improved computing capabilities is desirable.Opti-
cal computing includes the optical calculation of transforms and
optical pattern matching. Emerging technologies also make the
optical storage of data a reality.
The speed of computers was achieved by miniaturizing elec-
tronic components to a very small micron-size scale, but they are
limited not only by the speed of electrons in matter (Einstein's
principle that signals cannot propagate faster than the speed of
light) but also by the increasing density of interconnections
necessary to link the electronic gates on microchips. The optical
computer comes as a solution of miniaturization problem. In an
optical computer, electrons are replaced by photons, the sub-
atomic bits of electromagnetic radiation that make up light.
Optics, which is the science of light, is already used in comput-
ing, most often in the fiber-optic glass cables that currently
transmit: data on communication networks much faster than via
traditional copper wires. Thus, optical signals might be the
ticket for the fastest supercomputers ever. Compared to light,
electronic signals in chips travel at snail speed. Moreover, there
is no such thing as a short circuit with light, so beams could cross
with no problem after being redirected by pinpoint-size mirrors
in a switchboard. In a pursuit to probe into cutting-edge re-
search areas, optical technology (optoelectronic, photonic de-
vices) is one of the most promising, and may eventually lead to
new computing applications as a consequence of faster processor
speeds, as well as better connectivity and higher bandwidth.
The pressing need for optical technology stems from the fact
that today's' computers are limited by the time response of
electronic circuits. A solid transmission medium limits both the
speed and volume of signals, as well as building up heat that
damages components. For a one-foot length of wire
produces approximately one nanosecond (billionth of a second)
of time delay. Extreme miniaturization of tiny electronic com-
Optical computing
includes the optical
calculation of
transforms and
optical pattern
matching. Emerging
technologies also
make the optical
storage of data a
reality.

Light does not have
the time response
limitations of
electronics, does not
need insulators, and
can even send
dozens or hundreds of
photon signal streams
simultaneously using
different color
frequencies.
GENERAL I ARTICLE
ponents also leads to 'cross-talk' - signal errors that affect the
system's reliability. These and other obstacles have led scien-
tists to seek answers in light itself. Light does not have the time
response limitations of electronics, does not need insulators,
and can even send dozens or hundreds of photon signal streams
simultaneously using different color frequencies. Those are
immune to electromagnetic interference, and free from electri-
cal short circuits. They have low-loss transmission and provide
large bandwidth; i.e. multiplexing capability, capable of com-
municating several channels in parallel without interference.
They are capable of propagating signals within the same or
adjacent fibers with essentially no interference or cross talk.
They are compact, lightweight, and inexpensive to manufac-
ture, as well as more facile with stored information than mag-
netic materials. By replacing electrons and wires with photons,
fiber optics, crystals, thin films and mirrors, researchers are
hoping to build a new generation of computers that work 100
million times faster than today's machines.
The fundamental issues associated with optical computing, its
advantages over conventional (electronics-based) computing,
current applications of optics in computers are discussed in this
part. In the second part of this article the problems that remian
to be overcome and current research will be discussed.
Background
Optical computing was a hot research area in the 1980s. But the
work tapered off because of materials limitations that seemed to
prevent optochips from getting small enough and cheap enough
to be more than laboratory curiosities. Now, optical computers
are back with advances in self-assembled conducting organic
polymers that promise super-tiny all-optical chips [1]. Ad-
vances in optical storage device have generated the promise of
efficient, compact and large-scale storage devices [2]. Another
advantage of optical methods over electronic ones for comput-
ing is that parallel data processing can frequently be done much
more easily and less expensively in optics than in electronics [3].

58 RESONANCE I June 2003
GENERAL I ARTICLE
Parallelism, the capability to execute more than one operation
is now common in electronic computer archi-
tectures. But, most electronic computers still execute instruc-
tions sequentially; parallelism with electronics remains sparsely
used. Its first widespread appearance was in Cray supercomputers
in the early 1980's when two processors were used in conjunc-
tion with one shared memory. Today, large supercomputers
may utilize thousands of processors but communication over-
head frequently results in reduced overall efficiency [4]. On the
other hand for some applications in input-output (lIO), such as
image processing, by using a simple optical design a!l array of
pixels can be transferred simultaneously in parallel from one
point to another.
Optical technology promises massive upgrades in the efficiency
and speed of computers, as well as significant shrinkage in their
size and cost. An optical desktop computer could be capable of
processing data up to 100,000 times faster than current models
because multiple operations can be performed simultaneously.
Other advantages of optics include low manufacturing costs,
immunity to electromagnetic interference, a tolerance for low-
loss transmissions, freedom from short electrical circuits and
the capability to supply large bandwidth and propagate signals
within the same or adjacent fibers without interference. One
oversimplified example may help to appreciate the difference
between optical and electronic parallelism. Consider an imaging
system with 1000 x 1000 independent points per mm
2
in the
<?bject plane which are connected optically by a lens to a corre-
sponding number of points per mm
2
in the image plane; the lens
effectively performs an FFT of the image plane in real time. For
this to be accomplished electrically, a million operations are
required.
Parallelism, when associated with fast switching speeds, would
result in staggering computational speeds. Assume, for example,
there are only 100 million gates on a chip, much less than what
was mentioned earlier (optical integration is still in its infancy
compared to electronics). Further, conservatively assume that
Optical technology
promises massive
upgrades in the
efficiency and
speed of
computers, as well
as significant
shrinkage in their
size and cost. An
optical desktop
computer could be
capable of
processing data up
to 100,000 times
faster than current
models because
multiple operations
can be performed
simultaneously.

RESONANCE I June 2003 59
But building an optical
computer will not be
easy. A major
challenge is finding
materials that can be
mass produced yet
consume little power;
for this reason, optical
computers may not hit
the consumer market
for 10 to 15 years.
In the near term, at
least, optical
computers will most
likely be(hybrid
optical/electronic
systems that use
electronic circuits to
preprocess input data
for computation and to
post-process output
data for error
correction before
outputting the results.
GENERAL I ARTICLE
each gate operates with a switching time of only 1 nanosecond
(organic optical switches can switch at sub-picosecond rates
compared to maximum picosecond switching times for elec-
tronic switching). Such a system could perform more than 10
17
bit operations per second. Compare this to the gigabits (10
9
) or
terabits (10
12
) per second rates which electronics are either
currently limited to, or hoping to achieve. In other words, a
computation that might require one hundred thousand hours
(more than 11 years) of a conventional computer time could
require less than one hour by an optical one.
But building an optical computer will not be easy. A major
challenge is finding materials that can be mass produced yet
consume little power; for this reason, optical computers may not
hit the consumer market for 10 to 15 years. Another of the
typical problems optical computers have faced is that the digital
optical devices have practical limits of eight to eleven bits of
accuracy in basic operations due to, e.g., intensity fluctuations.
Recent research has shown ways around this difficulty. Thus,
for example, digital partitioning algorithms, that can break
matrix-vector products into lower-accuracy sub-products, work-
ing in tandem with error-correction codes, can substantially
improve the accuracy of optical computing operations. N ever-
theless, many problems in developing appropriate materials and
devices must be overcome before digital optical computers will
be in widespread commercial use. In the near term, at least,
optical computers will most likely be hybrid optical/electronic
systems that use electronic circuits to preprocess input data for
computation and to post-process output data for error correc-
tion before outputting the results. The promise of all-optical
computing remains highly attractive, however, and the goal of
developing optical computers continues to be a worthy one.
Nevertheless, many scientists feel that an all-optical computer
will not be the computer of the future; instead optoelectronic
computers will rule where the advantages of both electronics
and optics will be used. Optical computing can also be linked
intrinsically to quantum computing. Each photon is a quantum

60 RESONANCE I June 2003
GENERAL I ARTICLE
of a wave function describing the whole function. It is now
possible to control atoms by trapping single photons in small,
superconducting cavities [5]. So photon quantum computing
could become a future possibility.
Some Key Optical Components for Computing
The major breakthroughs on optical computing have been cen-
tered on the development of micro-optic devices for data input.
Conventional lasers are knQwn as 'edge emitters' because their
laser light comes .out frQm the edges. AlsQ, their laser cavities
run hQrizQntally alQng their length. A vertical cavity surface
emitting laser (VCSEL - pronQunced 'vixel'), however, gives
out laser light frQm its surface and has a laser cavity that is
vertical; hence the name. VCSEL is a semicQnductQr vertical
cavity surface emitting micrQlaser diQde that emits light in a
cylindrical beam vertically from the surface .of a fabricated
wafer, and .offers significant advantages when cQmpared tQ the
edge-emitting lasers currently used in the majQrity of fiber .optic
cQmmunications devices. They emit at 850 nm and have rather
low thresholds (typically a few rnA). They are very fast and can
give mW .of c.oupled P.ower int.o a 50 micrQn c.ore fiber and are
extremely radiatiQn hard. VCSELS can be tested at the wafer
level (as QPPQsed tQ edge emitting lasers which have tQ be cut
and cleaved befQre they can be tested) and hence are relatively
cheap. In fact, VCSELs can be fabricated efficiently .on a 3-inch
diameter wafer. A schematic .of VCSEL is shQwn in Figure l.
The principles invQlved in the QperatiQn .of a VCSEL are very
similar tQ thQse .of regular lasers. As shQwn in Figure 1, there are
two special semicQnductor materials sandwiching an active layer
where all the action takes place. But rather than reflective ends,
in a VCSEL there are several layers .of partially reflective mirrors
abQve and belQw the active layer. Layers .of semicQnductQr with
differing comp.ositions create these mirr.ors, and each mirr.or
reflects a narr.ow range .of wavelengths back into the cavity in
.order tQ cause light emissiQn at just .one wavelength.
Spatial light mQdulatQrs (SLMs) play an important role in
The major
breakthroughs on
optical computing
have been
centered on the
development of
micro-optic
devices for data
input.
veSEL is a semi-
conductor vertical
cavity surface emitting
microlaser diode that
emits light in a
cylindrical beam
vertically from the
surface of a fabricated
wafer, and offers
significant advantages
when compared to the
edge-emitting lasers
currently used in the
majority of fiber optic
communications
devices.

Top Mirrors
Laser Cavity
Bottom Mirrors
Vertical Cavity
Surface Emitting Laser
veSEL Wafer
Figure 1. A schematic of
the VeSEL and its possible
miniaturization into wafer.
Smart pixels, the
union of optics and
electronics, both
expands the
capabilities of
electronic systems
and enables
optical systems
with high levels of
electronic signal
processing.
GENERAL I ARTICLE
several technical areas where the control of light on a pixel-by-
pixel basis is a key element, such as optical processing, for
inputting information on light beams, and displays. For display
purposes the desire is to have as many pixels as possible in as
small and cheap a device as possible. For such purposes design-
ing silicon chips for use as spatial light modulators has been
effective. The basic idea is to have a set of memory cells laid out
on a regular grid. These cells are electrically connected to metal
mirrors, such that the voltage on the mirror depends on the
value stored in the memory cell. A layer of optically active liquid
crystal is sandwiched between this array of mirrors and a piece of
glass with a conductive coating. The voltage between individual
mirrors and the front electrode affects the optical activity of the
liquid crystal in that neighborhood. Hence by being able to
individually program the memory locations one can set up a
pattern of optical activity in the liquid crystal layer. Figure 2(a)
shows a reflective 256x256 pixel device based on SRAM technol-
ogy. Several technologies have contributed to the development
of SLMs. These include micro-electro-mechanical devices, such
as, acousto.,.optic modulators (AOMs), and pixelated electro-
optical devices, such as liquid-crystal modulators (LCMs). Fig-
ure 2(b) shows a simple AOM operation in deflecting light beam
direction. Encompassed within these categories are amplitude-
only, phase-only, or amplitude-phase modulators.
Broadly speaking, an optical computer is a computer in which
light is used somewhere. This can means fiber optical connec-
tions between electronic components, free space connections, or
one in which light functions as a mechanism for storage of data,
logic or arithmetic. Instead of electrons in silicon integrated
circuits, the digital optical computers will be based on photons.
Smart pixels, the union of optics and electronics, both expands
the capabilities of electronic systems and enables optical sys-
tems with high levels of electronic signal processing. Thus,
smart pixel systems add value to electronics through optical
input/output and interconnection, and value is added to optical
systems through electronic enhancements which include gain,

62 RESONANCE I June 2003
GENERAL I ARTICLE
Cover Glass
Si0
2
Planarised Circuitry
Layer
Mirrors
(a)
x
acoustic absorber
incident
deflected
EM wave
beam
(b)
feedback control, and image processing and compression. Smart
pixel technology is a relatively new approach to integrating
electronic circuitry and optoelectronic devices in a common
framework. The purpose is to leverage the advantages of each
individual technology and provide improved performance for
specific applications. Here, the electronic circuitry provides
complex functionality and programmability while the optoelec-
tronic devices provide high-speed switching and compatibility
with existing optical media. Arrays of these smart pixels lever-
age the parallelism of optics for interconnections as well as
computation. A smart pixel device, a light emitting diode (LED)
under the control of a field-effect transistor (FET), can now be
made entirely out of organic materials on the same substrate for
the first time. In general, the benefit of organic over conven-
Figure 2. (a) A reflective
256x256 pixel device based
on SRAM (Static Random
Access Memory) technol-
ogy with embedded CMOS
(Complimentary Metal-Ox-
ide Semiconductor) .
(b) Schematic diagram of
an Acousto-Optic Modula-
tor (AOM) deflection prin-
ciple.

The early work in
optical signal
processing and
computing was
basically analog in
na-ture. In the past
two decades,
however, a great
deal of effort has
been expended in
the development of
digital optical
processors.
GENERAL I ARTICLE
tional semiconductor electronics is that they should (when
mass-production techniques take over) lead to cheaper, lighter,
circuitry that can be printed rather than etched. Scientists at
Bell Labs [6] have made 300-micron-wide pixels using polymer
FETs and LEDs made from a sandwich of organic materials, one
of which allows electrons to flow, another which acts as highway
for holes (the absence of electrons); light is produced when
electrons and holes meet. The pixels are quite potent, with a
brightness of about 2300 candela/m
2
, compared to a figure of 100
for present flat-panel displays [6]. A Cambridge University
group has also made an all-organic device, not as bright as the
Bell Labs version, but easier to make on a large scale [7].
Uses of Optics in Computing
Currently, optics is used mostly to link portions of computers,
or more intrinsically in devices that have some optical applica-
tion or component. For example, much progress has been
achieved, and optical signal processors have been successfully
used, for applications such as synthetic aperture radars, optical
pattern recognition, optical image processing, fingerprint enhan-
cement, and optical spectrum analyzers. The early work in opti-
cal signal processing and computing was basically analog in na-
ture. In the past two decades, however, a great deal of effort has
been expended in the development of digital optical processors.
Much work remains before digital optical computers will be
widely available commercially, but the pace of research and
development has increased through the 1990s. During the last
decade, there has been continuing emphasis on the following
aspects of optical computing:
Optical tunnel devices are under continuous development
varying from small caliber endoscopes to character recognition
systems with multiple type capability.
Development of optical processors for asynchronous trans-
fer mode.

GENERAL I ARTICLE
Development architectures for optical neural networks.
Development of high accuracy analog optical processors, ca-
pable of processing large amounts of data in parallel.
Since photons are uncharged and do not interact with one an-
other as readily as electrons, light beams may pass through one
another in full-duplex operation, for example without distorting
the information carried. In the case of electronics, loops usually
generate noise voltage spikes whenever the electromagnetic
fields through the loop changes. Further, high frequency or fast
switching pulses will cause interference in neighboring wires.
On the other hand, signals in adjacent optical fibers or in optical
integrated channels do not affect one another nor do they pick
up noise due to loops. Finally, optical materials possess superior
storage density and accessibility over magnetic materials.
The field of optical computing is progressing rapidly and shows
many dramatic opportunities for overcoming the limitations
described earlier for current electronic computers. The process
is already underway whereby optical devices have been incorpo-
rated into many computing systems. Laser diodes as sources of
coherent light have dropped rapidly in price due to mass pro-
duction. Also, optical CD-ROM discs are now very common in
home and office computers.
Current trends in optical computing emphasize communica-
tions, for example the use of free-space optical interconnects as
a potential solution to alleviate bottlenecks experienced in elec-
tronic architectures, including loss of communication efficiency
in multiprocessors and difficulty of scaling down the IC tech-
nology to sub-micron levels. Light beams can travel very close to
each other, and even intersect, without observable or measur-
able generation of unwanted signals. Therefore, dense arrays of
interconnects can be built using optical systems. In addition,
risk of noise is further reduced, as light is immune to electro-
magnetic interferences. Finally, as light travels fast and it has
extremely large spatial bandwidth and physical channel density,
Photons are
uncharged and do
not interact with
one another as
readily as
electrons, light
beams may pass
through one
another in full-
duplex operation,
for example
without distorting
the information
carried.

RESONANCE I June 2003 6S
Free-space optical
techniques are
also used in
scalable crossbar
systems, which
allow arbitrary
interconnections
between a set of
inputs and a set of
outputs. Optical
sorting and optical
crossbar inter-
connects are used
in asynchronous
transfer modes or
packet routing and
in shared memory
multiprocessor
systems.
GENERAL I ARTICLE
it appears to be an excellent media for information transport and
hence can be harnessed for data processing. This high band-
width capability offers a great deal of architectural advantage
and flexibility. Based on the technology now available, future
systems could have 1024 smart pixels per chip with each channel
clocked at 200MHz (a chip I/O of 200Gbits per second), giving
aggregate data capacity in the parallel optical highway of more
that 200Tbits per second; this could be further increased to
1000Tbits. Free-space optical techniques are also used in scal-
able crossbar systems, which allow arbitrary interconnections
between a set of inputs and a set of outputs. Optical sorting and
optical crossbar inter-connects are used in asynchronous trans-
fer modes or packet routing and in shared memory multiproces-
sor systems.
In optical computing two types of memory are discussed. One
consists of arrays of one-bit-store elements and the other is mass
storage, which is implemented by optical disks or by holo-
graphic storage systems. This type of memory promises very
high capacity and storage density. The primary benefits offered
by holographic optical data storage over current storage tech-
nologies include significantly higher storage capacities and faster
read-out rates. This research is expected to lead to compact,
high-capacity, rapid- and random-access, radiation-resistant,
low-power, and low-cost data storage devices necessary for fu-
ture intelligent spacecraft, as well as to massive-capacity and
fast-access terrestrial data archives. As multimedia applications
and services become more and more prevalent, entertainment
and data storage companies are looking at ways to increase the
amount of stored data and reduce the time it takes to get that
data out of storage. The SLMs and the linear array beam steerer
are used in optical data storage applications. These devices are
used to write data into the optical storage medium at high speed.
The analog nature of these devices means that data can be stored
at much higher density than data written by conventional de-
vices. Researchers around the world are evaluating a number of
inventive ways to store optical data while improving the perfor-
~ ~
RESONANCE I June 2003
GENERAL I ARTICLE
mance and capacity of existing optical disk technology. While
these approaches vary in materials and methods, they do share a
common objective: expanded capacity through stacking layers
of optical material. For audio recordings, a lS0-MB minidisk
with a 2.S-in. diameter has been developed that uses special
compression to shrink a standard CD's 640-MB storage capacity
onto the smaller polymer substrate. It is rewritable and uses
magnetic field modulation on optical material. The mini disk
uses one of two methods to write information onto an optical
disk. With the minidisk, a magnetic field placed behind the
optical disk is modulated while the intensity of the writing laser
head is held constant. By switching the polarity of the magnetic
field while the laser creates a state of flux in the optical material,
digital data can be recorded on a single layer. As with all optical
storage media, a read laser retrieves the data. Along with mini disk
developments, standard magneto-optical CD technology has
expanded the capacity of the 3.S-in. diameter disk from 640 MB
to commercially available 1 GB storage media. These conven-
tional storage media modulate the laser instead of the magnetic
field during the writing process. Fourth-generation 8x 5.25 in.
diameter disks that use the same technology have reached ca-
pacities of 4 GB per disk. These disks are used mainly in
'jukebox' devices. Not to be confused with the musical jukebox,
these machines contain multiple disks for storage and backup of
large amounts of data that need to be accessed quickly.
Beyond these existing systems are several laboratory systems
that use multiple layers of optical material on a single disk. The
one with the largest capacity, magnetic super-resolution (MSR),
uses two layers of optical material. The data is written onto the
bottom layer through a writing laser and magnetic field modu-
lation (MFM). When reading the disk in MSR mode, the data is
copied from the lower layer to the upper layer with greater
spacing between bits. In this way, data can be stored much closer
together (at distances smaller than the read beam wavelength)
on the bottom layer without losing data due to averaging across
bits. This method is close to commercial production, offering
For audio
recordings, a 150-
MB minidisk with a
2.5-in. diameter
has been
developed that
uses special
compression to
shrink a standard
CD's 640-MB
storage capacity
onto the smaller
polymer substrate.
It is rewritable and
uses magnetic field
modulation on
optical material.

ASMO records data
on both lands and
grooves and, by
choosing groove
depths approximately
1/6 the wavelength of
the reading laser
light, the system can
eliminate the
cross track crosstalk
that would normally
be the result of
recording on both
grooves and lands.
GENERAL I ARTICLE
capacities of up to 20 GB on a 5.25 in. disk without the need for
altering conventional read-laser technology. Advanced storage
magnetic optics (ASMO) builds on MSR, but with one excep-
tion. Standard optical disks, including those used in MSR, have
grooves and lands just like a phonograph record. These grooves
are used as guideposts for the writing and reading lasers. How-
ever, standard systems only record data in the grooves, not on
the lands, wasting a certain amount of the optical material's
capacity. ASMO records data on both lands and grooves and, by
choosing groove depths approximately 1/6 the wavelength of the
reading laser light, the system can eliminate the cross track
crosstalk that would normally be the result of recording on both
grooves and lands. Even conventional CD recordings pick up
data from neighboring tracks, but this information is filtered
out, reducing the signal-to-noise ratio. By closely controlling
the groove depth, ASMO eliminates this problem while maxi-
mizing the signal-to-noise ratio. MSR and ASMO technologies
are expected to produce removable optical disk drives with
capacities between 6 and 20 GB on a 12-cm optical disk, which is
the same size as a standard CD that holds 640 MB. Magnetic
amplifying magneto-optical systems (MAMMOS) use a stan-
dard polymer disk with two or three magnetic layers. In general
terms, MAMMOS is similar to MSR, except that when the data
is copied from the bottom to the upper layer, it is expanded in
size, amplifying the signal. According to Archie Smith of
Storagetek's Advanced Technology Office (Louisville, CO),
MAMMOS represents a two-fold increase in storage capacity
over ASMO.
Technology developed by Call/Recall Inc. (San Diego, CA)
could help bridge the gap between optical disk drives and
holographic memories. Called 2-photon optical storage technol-
ogy (which got its start with the assistance of the Air Force
research laboratories and DARPA), the Call1Recall systems un-
der development use a single beam to write the data in either
optical disks with up to 120 layers, or into lOO-layer cubes of
active-molecule-doped MMA polymer. In operation, a mask
8 ~ ~
RESONANCE I June 2003
GENERAL 'I ARTICLE
representing data is illuminated by a mode-locked N d: Y AG
laser emitting at 1064 nm with pulse durations of 35 ps. The
focal point of the beam intersects a second beam formed by the
second harmonic of the same beam at 532 nm. The second beam
fixes the data spatially and temporally. A third beam from a
HeNe laser emitting at 543 nm reads the data by causing the
material to fluoresce. The fluorescence is read by a charge-
coupled device (CCD) chip and converted through proprietary
algorithms back into data. Newer versions of the system use a
Ti: Sapphire laser with 200-fs pulses. Call/Recall's Fredrick
McCormick said the newer and older approaches offer different
strengths. The Y AG system can deliver higher-power pulses
capable of storing megabits of data with a single pulse, but at
much lower repetition rates than the Ti:Sapphire laser with its
lower-power pulses. Thus, it is a trade-off. Call1Recall has
demonstrated the system using portable apparatus comprised of
a simple stepper-motor-driven stage and 200-microwatt HeNe
laser in conjunction with a low-cost video camera. The company
estimates that an optimized system could produce static bit
error rates (BER) of less than 9 x 10-
13
McCormick believes that
a final prototype operating at standard CD rotation rates would
offer BERs that match or slightly exceed conventional optical
disk technology. Researchers such as Demetri Psaltis and asso-
ciates at the California Institute of Technology are also using
active-molecule-doped polymers to store optical data holographi-
cally. Their system uses a thin polymer layer ofPMMA doped
with phenanthrenequinone (PQ). When illuminated with two
coherent beams, the subsequent interference pattern causes the
PQ molecules to bond to the PMMA host matrix to a greater
extent in brighter areas and to a lesser extent in areas where the
intensity drops due to destructive interference. As a result, a pair
of partially offsetting index gratings is formed in the PMMA
matrix. After writing the hologram into the polymer material,
the substrate is baked, which causes the remaining unbonded
PQ molecules to diffuse throughout the polymer, removing the
offsetting grating and leaving the hologram. A uniform illumi-
nation is the final step, bonding the diffuse PQ throughout the

Associative or
content-based data
access enables
the search of the
entire memory
space in parallel
for the presence of
a keyword or
search argument.
GENERAL I ARTICLE
matrix and fixing the hologram in the polymer material.
Storagetek's Archie Smith estimates that devices based on this
method could hold between 100 and 200 GB of data on a S.2S-in
diameter polymer disk.
More conventional approaches to holographic storage use iron-
doped lithium niobate crystals to store pages of data. Unlike
standard magneto-optical storage devices, however, the systems
developed by Pericles Mitkas at Colorado State University use
the associative search capabilities of holographic memories (Fig-
ure 3). Associative or content-based data access enables the
search of the entire memory space in parallel for the presence of
a keyword or search argument. Conventional systems use memory
addresses to track data and retrieve the data at that location
when requested. Several applications can benefit from this
mode of operation including management of large multimedia
databases, video indexing, image recognition, and data mining.
Different types of data such as formatted and unformatted text,
gray scale and binary images, video frames, alphanumeric data
tables, and time signals can be interleaved in the same medium
and we can search the memory with either data type. The system
uses a data and a reference beam to create a hologram on one
Figure 3. Holographic me-mory cubes use a spatial light modulator
to simultaneously search the entire memory for a searchable object
- be it text, image, or something else. This associative memory
search process promises significant benefits for database sear-
ching and other applications.
Variable
Beam
Splitter

70 RESONANCE I June 2003
GENERAL I ARTICLE
plane inside the lithium niobate. By changing the angle of the
reference beam, more data can be written into the cube just like
pages in a book. The current systems have stored up to 1000
pages per spatial location in either VGA or VGA resolutions. To
search the data, a binary or analog pattern that represents the
search argument is loaded into a spatial light modulator and
modulates a laser beam. The light diffracted by the holographic
cube on a CCD generates a signal that indicates the pages that
match the sought data. Recent results have shown the system
can find the correct data 7S percent of the time when using
patterns as small as 1 to 5 percent of the total page. That level
goes up to 95 to 100 percent by increasing the amount of data
included in the search argument.
Suggested Reading
[1] See for example: Chemical and Engineering News, "Photonic Crystals
Assembled on Chip", 79(47), 31 (2001).
[2] P. Boffi, D. Piccinin, M.C. Ubaldi, (Eds.), Infrared Holography for
Optical Communications-Techniques, Materials andDevices, Springer-
Topics in Applied Physics: Vol 86, July 2002.
[3] Alain Goulet, Makoto Naruse, and Masatoshi Ishikawa, "Simple
integration technique to realize parallel optical interconnects: imple.
mentation of a pluggable twodimensional optical data link", Applied
Optics 41, 5538 (2002)
[4] Tushar Mahapatra, Sanjay Mishra, Oracle Parallel Processing, O'ReiIly
& Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, California, USA, 2000.
[5] S. J. van Enk, J. McKeever, H. J. Kimble, and J. Ye, "Cooling of a single
atom in an optical trap inside a resonator," Phys. Rev. A 64, 013407
(2001).
[6] A. Dodabalapur, Z. Bao, A. Makhija, J. G. Laquindanum, V. R. Raju, Y.
Feng, H. E. Katz, and J. Rogers, "Organic smart pixels", AppL Phys.
Lett. 73, 142 (1998).
[7] Henning Sirringhaus, Nir Tessler, and Richard H. Friend, "Integrated
Optoelectronic Devices Based on Conjugated Polymers", Science 280,
1741 (1988).
Address for Correspondence
Debabrata Goswami
Toto Institute of Fundamental
Research
Hom; Bhabha Road
Colaba, Mumbai 400005
Email:
http://www .tifr.res .in/ -debu