Volume Holographic Storage of Digital Data Implemented in Photorefractive Media

A holographic data storage system is fundamentally different from conventional storage devices. Information is recorded in a volume, rather than on a two-dimensional surface. Data is transferred in parallel, on a page-by -page basis, rather than serially. These properties, combined with a limited need for mechanical motion, lead to the potential for a storage system with high capacity, fast transfer rate, and short access time. The majority of previous volume holographic storage experiments have involved direct storage and retrieval of pictorial information. Success in the development of a practical holographic storage device requires an understanding of the performance capabilities of a digital system. This thesis presents a number of contributions toward this goal. A description of light diffraction from volume gratings is given. The results are used as the basis for a theoretical and numerical analysis of interpage crosstalk in both angular and wavelength multiplexed holographic storage. An analysis of photorefractive grating formation in photovoltaic media such as lithium niobate is presented along with steady-state expressions for the space-charge field in thermal fixing. Thermal fixing by room temperature recording followed by ion compensation at elevated temperatures is compared to simultaneous recording and compensation at high temperature. In particular, the tradeoff between diffraction efficiency and incomplete Bragg matching is evaluated. An experimental investigation of orthogonal phase code multiplexing is described. Two unique capabilities, the ability to perform arithmetic operations on stored data pages optically, rather than electronically, and encrypted data storage, are demonstrated. A comparison of digital signal representations, or channel codes, is carried out. The codes are compared in terms of bit-error rate performance at constant capacity. A well-known one-dimensional digital detection technique, maximum likelihood sequence estimation, is extended for use in a two-dimensional page format memory. The effectiveness of the technique in a system corrupted by intersymbol interference is investigated both experimentally and through numerical simulations. The experimental implementation of a fully-automated multiple page digital holographic storage system is described. Finally, projections of the performance limits of holographic data storage are made taking into account typical noise sources.