ADVANCES IN PROTEIN-BASED 3-DIMENSIONAL OPTICAL MEMORIES

An oriented bacteriorhodopsin cube is optimized as a potential three-d imensional optical memory medium. Write/read capability is demonstrate d by using the photovoltaic signal induced by two-photon absorption. O ur results demonstrate that a two-photon induced photovoltage can he d etected in a three-dimensional Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) cube as large as 1.6 x 1.6 x 1.6 cm(3). The read/write speed, signal to noise ratio, a nd the laser damage threshold for the protein-based three-dimensional optical memory is examined.