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Molecular electronics for frequency domain optical storage: Persistent spectral hole-burning - A review

W. E. Moerner

Published Mar 25, 1985• 10 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB) is a phenomenon that allows an additional dimension, the frequency at which spectral holes are written, to be used to encode digital data. PHB can be used to store a large number of bits of information in the volume irradiated by a focused laser beam, leading to a possible future storage technology, frequency domain optical storage. A large number of photochemical and photophysical mechanisms have led to the production of spectral holes; a wealth of information has been learned about host-guest interactions, dephasing, and solid-state photochemistry at low temperatures. The general structure of a frequency domain optical store places a set of constraints on the engineering of such a system as well as on the materials used as recording media. The dynamics of the hole-burning process are crucial; for monophotonic mechanisms in particular, a set of stringent constraints can be derived that limit the applicability of this class of materials. Recent discoveries of two-color, photon-gated hole-burning offer special promise for nondestructive reading and improved performance.

Related papers

Frequency Domain Optical Storage: The Importance of Photon-Gated Materials

W. E. Moerner, R. M. Macfarlane, Wilfried Lenth

Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB, also called photochemical hole-burning) permits use of the optical frequency for encoding digital information through the presence and absence of spectral holes that are burned in inhomogeneously broadened absorption lines at low (liquid helium) temperatures. The optical frequency or wavelength at which a given hole is burned acts as an additional dimension for data storage, hence this optical recording scheme has been called Frequency Domain Optical Storage (FDOS). The combination of spectral and spatial data-recording can make storage densities in excess of 1010 bits/cm2 possible; furthermore, since rotation of the recording medium is not necessary, shorter random access times will result. The future success of the FDOS concept will rely on progress in several technological and engineering areas as well as on advances in several critical materials areas1.

Optical Data Storage•Jan 1, 1987•1 citation

Gated spectral hole burning for frequency-domain optical recording

Wilfried Lenth, W. E. Moerner

Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB) permits use of the optical frequency for encoding digital information through the presence and absence of spectral holes that are burned in inhomogeneously broadened absorption lines at low temperatures. The combination of spectral and spatial data recording can make storage densities of 1010 bits/cm2 possible. The most challenging innovation needed to achieve a practical storage system is presented by the complex materials requirements1 on a successful storage medium.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Jan 1, 1986•5 citations

TWO-COLOR, PHOTON-GATED SPECTRAL HOLE-BURNING

W. E. Moerner, Manfred Gehrtz, Howard W. H. Lee +4 more

Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB) has been proposed as the essential element of a frequency domain optical storage system1 in which the frequency at which a hole is burned in an inhomogeneously broadened absorption line at low temperatures serves as an additional dimension for the storage of digital information. Essentially all of the mechanisms studied until recently have been single-photon mechanisms, i.e., the photoionduced change leading to hole-burning (writing) for a given center occurs with a certain fixed probability after the absorption of one photon. Such linear, monophotonic processes suffer from the drawback that the act of detecting holes (reading) can also produce changes in the absorption line. Recent modeling studies of the generalized single-photon process2 have shown that thousands to tens of thousands of reads can be obtained from single-photon mechanisms only when the material possesses high quantum efficiency and low absorption cross section. These restrictive requirements do not apply for photon-gated hole-burning mechanisms, i.e., those mechanisms for which hole-burning occurs only in the presence of an additional “gating” light source, because for these mechanisms, reading is performed in the absence of the gating light and is therefore nondestructive.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Jan 1, 1985•0 citations

Laser Light-Induced Physical Processes In Optical Materials: Persistent Spectral Hole-Burning

W. E. Moerner

Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB) is a photoinduced process in low temperature solids that may lead to a possible future application, frequency domain optical storage. The feasibility of such a data storage device depends critically upon having recording materials that undergo spectral hole-burning with certain well-defined characteristics. It is a stimulating challenge for the laser spectroscopist, photochemist, and physicist to find suitable materials and to devise detection techniques that make this application possible.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Dec 12, 1985•2 citations

Photochemical Hole Burning in Optical Materials

Kazuyuki Horie

Photochemical hole burning (PHB) is a topic of attracting increasing interest from spectroscopic viewpoints as well as from the practical prospects for ultra-high-density frequency-domain optical storage. Recent advances in PHB study are reviewed mainly focusing on the effects of chemical structure of guest ions and molecules as well as host matrices on the efficiency of hole formation and its temperature dependence, low energy excitation modes and Debye-Waller factors in amorphous matrices, and the mechanism of photon-gated PHB.

Journal of the Ceramic Society of Japan•Jan 1, 1991•6 citations

Technological aspects of a practical frequency-domain optical storage system

Frank M. Schellenberg, Wilfried Lenth, Gary C. Bjorklund

Frequency domain optical storage presents a method of storing information at densities of 1011–1012 bits/cm2,1 Persistent spectral hole burning PHB) allows binary data to be encoded by the presence or absence of holes burned in inhomogeneously broadened absorption bands at low temperature by exposure to narrowband light from a tunable laser. Typical hole widths are ~100 MHz, while typical line widths are ~200 GHz, making it possible to write >103 holes in a tightly focussed laser spot.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Jan 1, 1986•1 citation
Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB) is a phenomenon that allows an additional dimension, the frequency at which spectral holes are written, to be used to encode digital data. PHB can be used to store a large number of bits of information in the volume irradiated by a focused laser beam, leading to a possible future storage technology, frequency domain optical storage. A large number of photochemical and photophysical mechanisms have led to the production of spectral holes; a wealth of information has been learned about host-guest interactions, dephasing, and solid-state photochemistry at low temperatures. The general structure of a frequency domain optical store places a set of constraints on the engineering of such a system as well as on the materials used as recording media. The dynamics of the hole-burning process are crucial; for monophotonic mechanisms in particular, a set of stringent constraints can be derived that limit the applicability of this class of materials. Recent discoveries of two-color, photon-gated hole-burning offer special promise for nondestructive reading and improved performance.
Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB, also called photochemical hole-burning) permits use of the optical frequency for encoding digital information through the presence and absence of spectral holes that are burned in inhomogeneously broadened absorption lines at low (liquid helium) temperatures. The optical frequency or wavelength at which a given hole is burned acts as an additional dimension for data storage, hence this optical recording scheme has been called Frequency Domain Optical Storage (FDOS). The combination of spectral and spatial data-recording can make storage densities in excess of 1010 bits/cm2 possible; furthermore, since rotation of the recording medium is not necessary, shorter random access times will result. The future success of the FDOS concept will rely on progress in several technological and engineering areas as well as on advances in several critical materials areas1.
Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB) permits use of the optical frequency for encoding digital information through the presence and absence of spectral holes that are burned in inhomogeneously broadened absorption lines at low temperatures. The combination of spectral and spatial data recording can make storage densities of 1010 bits/cm2 possible. The most challenging innovation needed to achieve a practical storage system is presented by the complex materials requirements1 on a successful storage medium.
Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB) has been proposed as the essential element of a frequency domain optical storage system1 in which the frequency at which a hole is burned in an inhomogeneously broadened absorption line at low temperatures serves as an additional dimension for the storage of digital information. Essentially all of the mechanisms studied until recently have been single-photon mechanisms, i.e., the photoionduced change leading to hole-burning (writing) for a given center occurs with a certain fixed probability after the absorption of one photon. Such linear, monophotonic processes suffer from the drawback that the act of detecting holes (reading) can also produce changes in the absorption line. Recent modeling studies of the generalized single-photon process2 have shown that thousands to tens of thousands of reads can be obtained from single-photon mechanisms only when the material possesses high quantum efficiency and low absorption cross section. These restrictive requirements do not apply for photon-gated hole-burning mechanisms, i.e., those mechanisms for which hole-burning occurs only in the presence of an additional “gating” light source, because for these mechanisms, reading is performed in the absence of the gating light and is therefore nondestructive.
Persistent spectral hole-burning (PHB) is a photoinduced process in low temperature solids that may lead to a possible future application, frequency domain optical storage. The feasibility of such a data storage device depends critically upon having recording materials that undergo spectral hole-burning with certain well-defined characteristics. It is a stimulating challenge for the laser spectroscopist, photochemist, and physicist to find suitable materials and to devise detection techniques that make this application possible.
Photochemical hole burning (PHB) is a topic of attracting increasing interest from spectroscopic viewpoints as well as from the practical prospects for ultra-high-density frequency-domain optical storage. Recent advances in PHB study are reviewed mainly focusing on the effects of chemical structure of guest ions and molecules as well as host matrices on the efficiency of hole formation and its temperature dependence, low energy excitation modes and Debye-Waller factors in amorphous matrices, and the mechanism of photon-gated PHB.