OPTICAL-DATA STORAGE IN MICROFIBERS

Tests of optical data storage in arrays of microfibers confirm its app licability and potential for higher storage densities than those achie vable with conventional holographic data storage. Arrays of single-mod e microfibers, spaced 0.78 mu m apart and 60 mu m long, were generated in a photopolymer film with four laser beams and simultaneously inscr ibed with Lippmann-Bragg fringes by use of a counterpropagating beam. Following the curing steps, spectra of white Light retroreflected from a single fiber exhibit the reconstructed spectral lines of the multiw avelength laser used in the recording step; 10(11) bits/cm(2), or 10(1 3) bits on a compact disk, appear to be recordable. (C) 1998 Optical S ociety of America.