Polymeric nanostructured material for high-density three-dimensional optical memory storage

The unique properties of a polymer photonic crystal are examined with respe ct to applications as a medium for high-density three-dimensional optical d ata storage media. The nanocomposite material was produced from core-shell latex particles, in which the latex cores contained dye-labeled polymer. No nfluorescent latex shells were attached to the core particles. Upon anneali ng, the close-packed core-shell particles formed a nanostructured material with the fluorescent particles periodically embedded into the optically ine rt matrix in a hexagonal close-packed structure. A two-photon laser scannin g microscope was used to write bits of information into the material by pho tobleaching the optically sensitive particles and, under much lower fluence , read out the resulting image. Relative to conventional homogeneous storag e media, the nanostructured periodic material is shown to increase the effe ctive optical storage density by at least a factor of 2 by spatially locali zing the optically active region and imposing an optically inactive barrier to cross-talk between bits. This polymer photonic crystal has the potentia l to dramatically improve performance further through the improved capabili ties to optimize the photochemical processes and more fully exploiting the periodic nature of the information domains in the image processing. (C) 200 1 American Institute of Physics.