JP4120838B2 - Optical recording method, optical reading method, optical reading device, and optical recording medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for recording data information on an optical recording medium, and a method and apparatus for reading data information from an optical recording medium.

  Rewritable optical disks such as phase change type and magneto-optical type are already widely used. These optical disks have a recording density that is one digit higher than that of a general magnetic disk, but are still not sufficient for digital recording of image information. In order to increase the recording density, it is necessary to reduce the beam spot diameter and shorten the distance between adjacent tracks or adjacent bits.

  A DVD-ROM is being put into practical use by the development of such technology. DVD-ROM can store 4.7 GB data on a single side of a 12 cm diameter disk. The writable / erasable DVD-RAM is capable of high-density recording of 5.2 GB on both sides of a 12 cm diameter disk by a phase change method. This corresponds to 7 times or more of a read-only CD-ROM and 3600 or more floppy (registered trademark) disks.

As described above, the density and capacity of optical discs are increasing year by year. However, on the other hand, since the optical disc records data in a plane, the recording density is limited to the diffraction limit of light and approaches 5 Gbit / cm ² , which is called the physical limit of high-density recording. Therefore, in order to further increase the capacity, three-dimensional (volume type) recording including the depth direction is required.

  Examples of the material of the volume type optical recording medium include a photopolymer material and a photorefractive material. Since these materials absorb a relatively weak light and cause a change in refractive index, information recording by a light-induced refractive index change is possible. Therefore, it can be used for multiplex hologram recording capable of increasing the capacity.

As an example of high-density recording using a photopolymer material, Non-Patent Document 1 (SPIE Vol. 2514, 355) uses a spherical wave for reference light and rotates a DuPont 150-100 photopolymer processed into a disk shape. It has been shown that a shift multiplex hologram was recorded, and a recording density (10 bits / μm ² ) of 10 times or more that of a currently used CD was achieved.

In addition, as an example of high-density recording using a photorefractive material, Non-Patent Document 2 (OPTICAL ENGINEERING Vol. 34, (1995) 2193) describes an Fe-doped LiNbO ₃ crystal having a size of 10 × 10 × 22 mm, It has been reported that 20,000 page holograms were multiplexed and about 1 GByte recording was achieved.

  In addition to being able to record large volumes of data in this way, holographic memory can record and read data two-dimensionally, so high-speed data recording and data reading, high-speed data search and data correlation detection, The data transfer is also possible. Specifically, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-149660), the following data search method is proposed.

  FIG. 26 shows the search method. In this method, two-dimensional search data holographically recorded on the optical memory 102 is read from the optical memory 102 by the laser light from the laser 101, and the data pattern image is written in the optical address type spatial light modulator 103. Then, two-dimensional search data is written in the electrical address type spatial light modulator 104 having an LCD (liquid crystal display) configuration.

  Then, the laser light from the laser 105 is used as readout light to irradiate the spatial light modulator 104 of the LCD configuration through the analyzer 106, change the polarization state according to the search data, and change the transmitted light. The light is reflected by the half mirror prism 107 and imaged on the readout surface of the optical address type spatial light modulator 103.

  Therefore, the polarization state of the readout light is changed for each pixel in the spatial light modulator 103 in accordance with the data to be searched, and the readout light is incident on the photodetector array 109 through the analyzer 108. By collectively detecting the presence / absence of readout light from a plurality of pixels, it is possible to collectively detect a match / mismatch of a plurality of bits between the data to be searched and the search data.

  In addition, Non-Patent Document 3 (A. Kutanov and Y. Ichioka: Conjugate Image Plane Correlator with Holographic Disk Memory, OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 3, No. 4 (1996) 258-263) has the following data. And a data correlation detection method is described.

  FIG. 27 shows the recording method and correlation detection method. In this method, at the time of recording, two-dimensional data to be recorded is displayed on an electrical address type spatial light modulator 111 having an LCD configuration, and signal light 112 having a two-dimensional amplitude distribution that has passed through the spatial light modulator 111 is displayed. The Fourier transform lens 113 performs Fourier transform on the Fourier transform plane P1 and irradiates the optical memory 114. Simultaneously, the optical memory 114 is irradiated with the reference light 115, and the two-dimensional data is recorded in the optical memory 114 as a Fourier transform hologram.

  In the case of detecting the correlation, the two-dimensional search data is displayed on the electrical address type spatial light modulator 111 having the LCD configuration, and the reading light 116 having a conjugate relationship with the reference light 115 at the time of recording is displayed on the optical memory 114. The hologram of the two-dimensional search data is read from the optical memory 114, and the read hologram is subjected to inverse Fourier transform to the inverse Fourier transform plane P2 by the Fourier transform lens 113 and is incident on the spatial light modulator 111.

  Therefore, the transmitted light of the spatial light modulator 111 is an optical product of the search data and the search target data, and is strong against the Fourier transform plane P3 of the Fourier transform lens 117 when the search data matches the search target data. A correlation peak appears, and by detecting this, the correlation of a two-dimensional image or the like can be known.

  As an optical recording medium capable of rewriting a hologram, Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-280116) shows an optical recording medium made of a polymer liquid crystal material, and Patent Document 3 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-30192). Discloses an optical recording medium made of a phase change material.

The prior art documents listed above are as follows.
SPIE Vol. 2514, 355 OPTICAL ENGINEERING Vol. 34, (1995) 2193 A. Kutanov and Y.K. Ichioka: Conjugate Image Plane Correlator with holographic disk memory, OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 3, No. 4 (1996) 258-263 JP-A-3-149660 JP-A-2-280116 JP-A-4-30192

  As described above, in recent years, holographic memory has attracted attention in order to increase capacity and speed, and a search method as shown in FIG. 26 and a recording method and a correlation detection method as shown in FIG. 27 have also been proposed. ing. In addition, research on improving the S / N ratio for high-density recording has been conducted, and optical information processing technology is being applied.

  However, the conventional search method shown in FIG. 26 and the conventional recording method and correlation detection method shown in FIG. 27 are of the amplitude (intensity) modulation type of the LCD configuration as the electrical address type spatial light modulator 104 or 111. Since these are used, there are the following problems.

  As shown in FIG. 28, the LCD for displaying data such as the spatial light modulator 104 or 111 is provided on both sides of a liquid crystal cell 124 having electrodes 122 and 123 on both sides of a liquid crystal 121 which is one of electro-optic conversion members. Polarizers 126 and 127 are arranged. As the polarizers 126 and 127, dichroic polarizers that are easy to reduce in size and weight are used, but the transmittance in the transmission axis direction is as low as 70 to 80%. Cause loss.

  Therefore, when data is recorded and read using a spatial light modulator having such an LCD configuration, the light intensity decreases during recording and reading, the S / N deteriorates, and the hologram recording density Decrease in search accuracy. Further, when the laser power is increased to increase the signal intensity, there arises a problem that the lifetime of the laser is reduced.

  In recording / reading data in a holographic memory, noise factors that determine BER (bit error rate) include (1) noise that does not depend on hologram quality, such as a photo detector array such as a CCD or a photodetector array, and (2 ) Diffracted light from adjacent holograms (crosstalk between pages), (3) Crosstalk between pixels within the same hologram, (4) Between pages and within pages of diffraction efficiency due to imperfection of crystal and optical system Fluctuations.

  Information recording by amplitude (intensity) modulation is easily affected by various noises as described above, and the ratio (S / N) between the signal intensity and these noises affects the recording density in the recording medium. Thus, as with other file systems, several encodings have been attempted to keep BER low.

  For example, when two-dimensional data corresponding to [0, 1] corresponding to [bright, dark] is multiplexed and recorded on a hologram, the total light intensity of signal light at the time of recording is not kept constant depending on the data. Crosstalk caused by the fluctuation of. In order to avoid this problem, a differential coding method is used in which [darkness] corresponds to [0] and [brightness] corresponds to [1]. However, in this case, the encoding ratio is 0.5, and the pixel utilization efficiency is low.

  As described above, when an amplitude modulation type spatial light modulator is used for data input or data search, the light use efficiency is low, S / N degradation occurs, a special coding method is required, etc. There is a problem. For this reason, the high-density recording that is one of the characteristics of the holographic memory has not been achieved sufficiently.

  Further, the conventional data retrieval method shown in FIG. 26 (1) requires an expensive optical address type spatial light modulator 103, and (2) an optical address type spatial light modulator 103 and an electric address type spatial light modulator 103. There is a problem that the spatial light modulator 104 needs to be aligned with very high accuracy, and (3) another spatial light modulator is required to record the hologram in the optical memory 102.

  In addition, the conventional recording method and correlation detection method shown in FIG. 27 can avoid the problems (1) to (3) above, but the correlation value between data is obtained because the correlation is detected based on the presence or absence of a correlation peak. However, there is a serious problem that it is not possible to detect a bit-by-bit match / mismatch between high-density complex data. Therefore, it is not suitable as a searchable computer filing system.

As for rewritability of the holographic memory, Ba ₂ TiO ₃ , LiNbO ₃ , SBN (Sr _x Ba _1-x Nb ₂ O ₆ ), which are known as typical photorefractive materials, and the above-mentioned patent documents 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-280116) and the phase change material disclosed in Patent Document 3 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-30192) both rewrite holograms. Can do.

  However, in these conventional optical recording media and optical recording methods using the same, in principle, some material change is caused in a place where the light intensity is strong, and no material change is caused in a place where the light intensity is weak. Since data is recorded, if you try to rewrite without erasing process at the time of data rewriting, the content of the previous data causes material change due to strong light intensity, and the new data content causes material change due to weak light intensity In the area where the contents are not to be changed, the data contents before the material change remain as they are, and the data is not rewritten.

  For this reason, when rewriting data, it is necessary to erase the previous recorded data once by an erasing process such as irradiating the entire surface of the optical recording medium with laser light, and then write new data. Therefore, the high speed which is one of the advantages of the holographic memory is diminished.

  In view of the above, the present invention is particularly capable of realizing higher density recording.

In the optical recording method of the present invention,
Simultaneously irradiates an optical recording medium having a polarization-sensitive layer exhibiting light-induced birefringence with linearly polarized first signal light that retains first data by the light intensity distribution and linearly polarized first reference light. Then, the light intensity distribution of the first signal light is recorded on the polarization sensitive layer as a first hologram,
Next, the linearly polarized second signal light that retains the second data by the light intensity distribution and the linearly polarized second reference light, the polarization direction of the second signal light, and the second reference The relationship between the polarization direction of the light is changed with respect to the relationship between the polarization direction of the first signal light and the polarization direction of the first reference light, and the optical recording medium is irradiated simultaneously, and the second As a second hologram, the light intensity distribution of the signal light is multiplexed and recorded on the first hologram in a region of the polarization sensitive layer where the first hologram is recorded.

In the optical reading method of the present invention,
An optical recording medium in which the first and second signal lights holding the first and second data are multiplexed and recorded in the same area as the first and second holograms by the optical recording method of the present invention. In addition, irradiation with linearly polarized readout light gives hologram diffracted light, which is separated into two polarization components having different polarization directions, and detecting the light intensity of the two polarization components, The first data and the second data are read separately.

  In a normal hologram, a light intensity distribution due to two-wave interference between signal light and reference light is recorded in an optical recording medium as a change in refractive index or absorptance. For this reason, the polarization directions of the signal light and the reference light need to be parallel. When recording a hologram, the amplitude information and phase information of the light can be recorded, but the polarization direction is limited to one direction. Therefore, in the conventional hologram recording and data retrieval, the amplitude modulation type spatial light modulator is used as described above.

  In contrast, a material exhibiting light-induced birefringence (also called light-induced dichroism or light-induced anisotropy) is sensitive to the polarization state of light incident thereon and records the polarization direction of incident light. be able to. As a result of experimental research, the inventor has found that there are materials having excellent recording characteristics, as will be described later.

  Focusing on this point, an optical recording medium having a polarization-sensitive layer exhibiting light-induced birefringence can be used, and a hologram can be recorded in the polarization-sensitive layer by the following method. Hereinafter, such an optical recording medium is referred to as a polarization-sensitive optical recording medium.

  In this polarization-sensitive optical recording medium, when the polarization directions of the signal light and the reference light are orthogonal, a hologram by light-induced birefringence corresponding to the polarization distribution by two light waves can be recorded. In this specification, such a hologram is referred to as a polarization hologram with respect to a hologram having a normal light intensity distribution. When this polarization hologram is irradiated with readout light having the same polarization direction as the reference light at the time of recording, diffracted light in which the polarization direction of the signal light is preserved is obtained.

  Focusing on this point, as described above, in the optical recording method of the present invention, the linearly polarized first signal light holding the first data by the light intensity distribution, the linearly polarized first reference light, Are simultaneously irradiated onto an optical recording medium having a polarization sensitive layer exhibiting photoinduced birefringence, and the light intensity distribution of the first signal light is recorded as a first hologram on the polarization sensitive layer, The linearly polarized second signal light that holds the second data by the light intensity distribution and the linearly polarized second reference light, the polarization direction of the second signal light, and the second reference light The relationship between the polarization direction is changed with respect to the relationship between the polarization direction of the first signal light and the polarization direction of the first reference light, and the optical signal is simultaneously irradiated to the second signal. Using the light intensity distribution of light as a second hologram, the first hologram of the polarization sensitive layer is recorded. In the optical reading method of the present invention, the first and second data are held by the optical recording method of the present invention. And irradiating the optical recording medium on which the first and second signal lights are multiplexed and recorded in the same region as the first and second holograms with linearly polarized readout light to obtain hologram diffracted light, The first data and the second data are separated and read by separating the two polarization components having different polarization directions and detecting the light intensity of the two polarization components.

  As described above, according to the present invention, by using the recording in the polarization direction together, a plurality of holograms are recorded in the same area of the optical recording medium, and the plurality of holograms are separated and read from the same area. Higher density recording can be realized.

  Therefore, the optical recording method and the optical reading method of the present invention are suitable for a computer filing system or the like.

[1. Embodiment of optical recording medium and principle of recording / reading / rewriting]
FIG. 1A shows an embodiment of the optical recording medium of the present invention. A polarization sensitive layer 12 exhibiting light-induced birefringence is formed on one surface side of a transparent substrate 11 such as a glass substrate, and the polarization described above. A sensitive optical recording medium 10 is configured. In this case, the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 at the time of recording are irradiated from the polarization sensitive layer 12 side as illustrated.

  In order to realize volume type (three-dimensional) recording, the thickness of the polarization sensitive layer 12 needs to be at least about 10 μm and is desirably larger. When the thickness is 1 mm, a recording capacity of about 100 CD-ROMs can be obtained.

  FIG. 1B shows another embodiment of the optical recording medium of the present invention, in which the entire optical recording medium 10 is formed of a polarization sensitive layer 12 exhibiting light-induced birefringence. In this case, the thickness of the polarization sensitive layer 12, that is, the optical recording medium 10 is the same as the thickness of the polarization sensitive layer 12 of FIG.

  In any case of FIGS. 1A and 1B, the optical recording medium 10 is formed in a sheet shape as a whole, that is, having a sufficiently large spread compared to the thickness. The optical recording medium 10 has a shape such as a disk shape.

  The polarization-sensitive layer 12 may be any material as long as it exhibits light-induced birefringence and can record the above-mentioned polarization hologram. As a preferred example, a polymer having a photoisomerizable group in the side chain is used. Alternatively, a polymer liquid crystal or a polymer in which molecules to be photoisomerized are dispersed can be used. As the photoisomerizable group or molecule, for example, those containing an azobenzene skeleton are suitable.

  Azobenzene exhibits trans-cis photoisomerization upon irradiation with light. In the trans type, the molecular structure is as shown in FIG. 2A, and in the cis type, the molecular structure is as shown in FIG. 2B.

  Due to such photoisomerization, azobenzene has many trans forms before photoexcitation and many cis forms after photoexcitation. Furthermore, when azobenzene is irradiated with linearly polarized light, directionality occurs in photoisomerization, and directionality appears in the absorptance and refractive index. In general, these properties are called light-induced birefringence, light-induced dichroism, or light-induced anisotropy. Moreover, these excited anisotropies can be eliminated by irradiating circularly polarized light or non-polarized light.

  When a hologram is recorded on the optical recording medium 10 provided with the polymer or polymer liquid crystal having azobenzene in the side chain, or the polymer in which azobenzene is dispersed as the polarization sensitive layer 12, the coherent signal light 1 and the reference respectively The same region of the optical recording medium 10 is simultaneously irradiated with the light 2.

  In this case, when the polarization directions of the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 are parallel to each other, for example, as shown in FIG. 3A, both the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 are s-polarized light, the optical recording medium 10 In addition, a light intensity distribution is generated by two-wave interference between the signal light 1 and the reference light 2. In a place where the light intensity is strong, azobenzene is strongly photoexcited to increase the cis type, and conversely, in a place where the light intensity is weak, the cis type decreases. Therefore, an absorptive or refractive index grating corresponding to the light intensity distribution is formed as a hologram.

  On the other hand, when the polarization directions of the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 are orthogonal to each other, for example, as shown in FIG. 3B, the signal light 1 is p-polarized and the reference light 2 is s-polarized. Sometimes, the light intensity distribution does not occur as in the case where the polarization directions of the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 are parallel to each other. Instead, the polarization direction is spatially and periodically modulated, and linearly polarized portions 8 and elliptically polarized portions 9 appear alternately and periodically.

  In this case, the light intensity distribution is uniform, but azobenzene directed in the same direction as the modulated polarization direction is more strongly photoexcited than azobenzene directed in the other direction. As a result, in the linearly polarized light portion 8, a large amount of cis-type dye is present, and a lattice having an absorptivity or a refractive index having spatially different directivity is formed as a hologram.

  Hereinafter, the hologram based on the light intensity distribution when the polarization directions of the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 are parallel as shown in FIG. 3A is referred to as a light intensity hologram, and the signal light 1 and the reference light 1 as shown in FIG. A hologram having a polarization distribution when the polarization directions of the reference light 2 are orthogonal is referred to as a polarization hologram.

  As described above, according to the optical recording medium 10 including the polymer or polymer liquid crystal having azobenzene in the side chain, or the polymer in which azobenzene is dispersed as the polarization sensitive layer 12, the polarization of the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 is polarized. Regardless of whether the directions are parallel or orthogonal, anisotropy of azobenzene is induced, so that a hologram can be recorded.

  As shown in FIG. 3 (A) or (B), the optical recording medium 10 on which the hologram is recorded in this way is used as the readout light 3 as the phase conjugate light of the reference light 2 at the time of recording, that is, the reference light 2 and the wavefront. When the light traveling in the opposite direction is irradiated, the diffracted light 4 from the hologram is the phase conjugate light of the signal light 1 at the time of recording, that is, the light having the same wavefront as the signal light 1 and the traveling direction is reversed. appear.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 3A, when both the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 are s-polarized light, the recorded hologram is formed by a light intensity hologram, that is, a light intensity distribution, and diffracted light. 4 is also s-polarized light. When the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 are both p-polarized light, the diffracted light 4 is similarly p-polarized light.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the signal light 1 is p-polarized light and the reference light 2 is s-polarized light, the recorded hologram is formed by a polarization hologram, that is, a polarization distribution, The diffracted light 4 becomes p-polarized light like the signal light 1. Similarly, when the signal light 1 is s-polarized light and the reference light 2 is p-polarized light, the diffracted light 4 is s-polarized in the same manner as the signal light 1.

  When the signal light 1 has an s-polarized component and a p-polarized component, the following occurs. For example, when the signal light 1 is linearly polarized light having the same s-polarization component and p-polarization component (the polarization direction is 45 ° with respect to both the s-polarization direction and the p-polarization direction), the diffraction intensities of the light intensity hologram and the polarization hologram are equal. For example, the polarization direction of the read diffracted light 4 is the same as the polarization direction of the signal light 1.

  On the other hand, when the diffraction efficiency of the light intensity hologram and that of the polarization hologram are not equal, the diffraction efficiency of the s-polarized light and that of the p-polarized light are different, so that the polarization direction of the read diffracted light 4 is different from the polarization direction of the signal light 1. It becomes like this. However, in this case, by arranging a polarizer or a wave plate in the optical path of the diffracted light 4, the diffracted light 4 having the same polarization direction as that of the signal light 1 can be obtained.

  As one preferred example of the polarization sensitive layer 12, a polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain represented by the chemical formula shown in FIG. 2C can be used. It was confirmed by a degenerate four-wave mixing optical system shown in FIG. 4 that this material can record a polarization hologram.

  As the light source 91, an argon ion laser emitting laser light sensitive to polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain was used. The polarized laser beam having a wavelength of 515 nm from the argon ion laser 91 is s-polarized light perpendicular to the paper surface. A part of the laser beam is reflected by the half mirror 92a, transmitted through the shutter 93a, and reflected by the mirror 94a. Then, the signal light 1 is obtained through the half-wave plate 95. The polarization direction of the signal light 1 can be arbitrarily changed by the half-wave plate 95.

  The signal light 1 is transmitted through the half mirror 92b to irradiate the sample optical recording medium 10 made of polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain, and at the same time, a part of the laser light transmitted through the half mirror 92a, Reflected by the half mirror 92c, transmitted through the shutter 93b, reflected by the mirror 94b, and applied to the optical recording medium 10 as s-polarized reference light 2. During this recording, the shutter 93c is closed.

  At the time of reading, the shutters 93a and 93b are closed, the shutter 93c is opened, the laser light transmitted through the shutter 93c is reflected by the mirror 94c, and is irradiated onto the optical recording medium 10 as s-polarized reading light 3, whereby the light is emitted. The diffracted light 4 read out from the recording medium 10 is reflected by the half mirror 92b and transmitted through the analyzer 96 and taken out. The polarization direction of the diffracted light 4 can be examined by rotating the analyzer 96.

  The signal light 1 has an optical power of 4 mW, a beam diameter of about 100 μm, a reference light 2 has an optical power of 100 mW, a beam diameter of about 2 mm, and the recording time is changed in units of 5 seconds. After recording, the hologram was read out. The optical power of the readout light 3 was 200 mW. If the reading light 3 is irradiated for a long time, the recorded hologram may be broken. Therefore, the irradiation time of the reading light 3 at one reading is set to 0.5 seconds.

  5A, 5B, and 5C show the hologram recording times of the light intensity of the diffracted light 4 when the signal light 1 is s-polarized light, p-polarized light, and 45 ° polarized light (middle of s-polarized light and p-polarized light), respectively. Shows dependency on. As described above, the reference light 2 and the readout light 3 are s-polarized light.

  As is apparent from FIG. 5, a hologram can be recorded regardless of the polarization state of the signal light 1. It can also be seen that the light intensity of the diffracted light 4 is in a steady state after recording for about 80 seconds. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the recorded hologram was retained for several weeks or more when stored at room temperature.

  FIG. 6 shows the result of examining the polarization distribution of the diffracted light 4 when the signal light 1 shown in FIG. 5A is s-polarized light, and the horizontal axis is the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 96, which is 90 ° and 270 ° represents s-polarized light, and the vertical axis represents transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 96. From this, it can be seen that the transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 96 increases when the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 96 is 90 ° or 270 °. Therefore, it is understood that when s-polarized light is recorded as the signal light 1, the read hologram diffraction light 4 is also s-polarized.

  FIG. 7 shows the result of examining the polarization distribution of the diffracted light 4 when the signal light 1 shown in FIG. 5B is p-polarized light, and the horizontal axis represents the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 96, 0 ° and 180 ° indicates p-polarized light, and the vertical axis indicates the transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 96. From this, it can be seen that the transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 96 increases when the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 96 is 0 ° or 180 °. Therefore, it is understood that when p-polarized light is recorded as the signal light 1, the read hologram diffraction light 4 is also p-polarized.

  FIG. 8 shows the result of examining the polarization distribution of the diffracted light 4 when the signal light 1 shown in FIG. 5C is 45 ° polarized. The horizontal and vertical axes are the same as those in FIGS. is there. From this, it can be seen that the transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 96 increases when the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 96 is 140 ° or 320 °. If the hologram diffracted light 4 is phase conjugate light in which the polarization of the signal light 1 is preserved, the transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 96 increases when the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 96 is 135 ° or 315 °. Also in this case, it is understood that the polarization of the signal light 1 is almost preserved in the hologram diffracted light 4.

  The deviation of the polarization angle of 5 ° is considered to be due to the polarization characteristics of the optical system, particularly the half mirror 92b. This deviation can be easily corrected by arranging a polarizer or a half-wave plate in the optical path of the hologram diffracted light 4.

  From the above results, it can be seen that the optical recording medium made of polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain can also record and read the polarization of the signal light as a hologram. Therefore, in the same area of an optical recording medium made of polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain, the polarization direction of the signal light is changed, the hologram holding the data information by the spatial polarization distribution, and the data information by the intensity distribution or phase distribution Multiple holograms to be held can be recorded.

  Furthermore, in order to investigate whether or not a plurality of holograms due to the difference in the polarization angle of the reference light can be recorded in the same region of the optical recording medium made of polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain, shown in FIG. In the optical system, the hologram was recorded by changing the polarization angle of the reference light 2, and the polarization state of the diffracted light 4 was examined. The polarization angle of the reference light 2 was changed by a half-wave plate (omitted in FIG. 4) arranged in the optical path of the reference light 2.

  FIG. 9 shows the relationship between the polarization angle of the hologram diffracted light 4 and the light intensity when the signal light 1 is p-polarized light, the reference light 2 is p-polarized light, and the readout light 3 is s-polarized light. Since the light intensity of the diffracted light 4 shows a peak when the polarization angle of the diffracted light 4 is approximately 90 ° or 270 °, it can be understood that the diffracted light 4 is substantially s-polarized light at this time.

  On the other hand, when the signal light 1 is p-polarized light, the reference light 2 is s-polarized light, and the readout light 3 is s-polarized light, the diffracted light 4 is p as shown in FIG. 7 corresponding to FIG. It was polarized light. As is clear from comparison between FIG. 7 and FIG. 9, when the hologram is recorded by rotating the polarization angle of the reference light 2, the polarization angle of the diffracted light 4 is rotated according to the rotation of the polarization angle of the reference light 2. Recognize.

  Therefore, by recording the hologram by rotating the polarization angle of the reference light, a plurality of holograms that retain data information by intensity distribution or phase distribution in the same region of the optical recording medium made of polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain Can be recorded in multiple. Reading of the hologram multiplexed with the polarization angle of the reference light is made possible by separating the diffracted light from the desired hologram from the polarization direction of the diffracted light.

  Furthermore, the rewriting characteristics of an optical recording medium made of polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain were measured by an optical system for hologram recording / reproduction shown in FIG.

  As the light source 81, the same argon ion laser as the light source 91 of the degenerate four-wave mixing optical system shown in FIG. 4 was used. The laser beam having a wavelength of 515 nm from the argon ion laser 81 is s-polarized light perpendicular to the paper surface, and a part of the laser beam is transmitted through the beam splitter 82, the shutter 83, and the half-wave plate 84. Thus, signal light 1 is obtained. The polarization direction of the signal light 1 can be arbitrarily changed by the half-wave plate 84.

  The signal light 1 is irradiated onto the sample optical recording medium 10 made of polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain, and at the same time, the laser light reflected by the beam splitter 82 is reflected by mirrors 85 and 86 to be s-polarized light. The reference light 2 is irradiated onto the optical recording medium 10 to record a hologram in the optical recording medium 10.

  At the time of reading, the shutter 83 is closed, the laser light reflected by the beam splitter 82 is reflected by the mirrors 85 and 86, and is irradiated onto the optical recording medium 10 as s-polarized reading light 3, whereby the optical recording medium 10 The diffracted light 4 that has been read out is transmitted through the analyzer 87 and taken out. The polarization direction of the diffracted light 4 can be examined by rotating the analyzer 87.

First, the light intensity of the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 is 1 W / cm ² , the beam diameter is about 2 mm, a hologram is recorded for about 2 seconds, and then the light intensity of the readout light 3 is 0.1 W / cm ^2. The hologram was read out, and the same recording and reading were repeated thereafter. If the reading light 3 is irradiated for a long time, the recorded hologram may be broken. Therefore, the irradiation time of the reading light 3 at one reading is set to 0.5 seconds.

  FIG. 11 shows the result of examining the polarization distribution of the diffracted light 4 read out at this time. The horizontal axis represents the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 87, 0 ° and 180 ° represent s-polarized light, and the vertical axis represents , The transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 87. As described above, the signal light 1, the reference light 2, and the readout light 3 are s-polarized light.

  This shows that the transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 87 increases when the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 87 is 0 ° or 170 °. Therefore, it is understood that when s-polarized light is recorded as the signal light 1, the read hologram diffraction light 4 is also s-polarized.

  Next, the p-polarized hologram was overwritten in the area where the s-polarized hologram was recorded without erasing the s-polarized hologram. That is, in the optical system of FIG. 10, the half-wave plate 84 is rotated to make the signal light 1 p-polarized, the reference light 2 remains s-polarized, and the light intensity and beam of the signal light 1 and reference light 2. The hologram was recorded for about 4 seconds with the same diameter as before, and then the hologram was read with the light intensity of the readout light 3 being the same as before.

  FIG. 12 shows the result of examining the polarization distribution of the diffracted light 4 read out at this time. The horizontal axis represents the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 87, 90 ° represents p-polarized light, and the vertical axis represents the analyzer. 87 transmitted light intensity.

  From this, it can be seen that the transmitted light intensity of the analyzer 87 increases when the polarization rotation angle of the analyzer 87 is 80 °. Therefore, when a p-polarized hologram is recorded in an area where an s-polarized hologram is recorded without erasing the s-polarized hologram, the hologram diffracted light read from the area may be p-polarized. Recognize.

  Although not shown, conversely, when an s-polarized hologram is recorded in a region where a p-polarized hologram is recorded without erasing the p-polarized hologram, the hologram diffracted light read from the region is recorded. Was confirmed to be s-polarized light.

  From the above results, it can be seen that the s-polarized or p-polarized hologram can be recorded in the area where the s-polarized or p-polarized hologram is recorded in advance without erasing the hologram. Furthermore, it is possible to overwrite the hologram again without any problem. Therefore, data can be rewritten at high speed without requiring an erasing process.

  As described above, the fact that the polarization of the signal light can be recorded and read as a hologram and that data can be rewritten without requiring an erasing process is that a polyester layer having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain only on one side. The same applies to the optical recording medium on which the (film) is formed. In addition to polyesters having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain, a polymer or polymer liquid crystal having a photoisomerizable group in the side chain such as azobenzene, or a photoisomerizable molecule such as azobenzene is dispersed. The same applies to an optical recording medium in which molecules are provided on at least one side.

[2. Embodiment of Optical Recording Method and Optical Recording Apparatus]
13 and 14 show an example of the optical recording method and optical recording apparatus of the present invention. The optical recording medium 10 is of the polarization sensitive type of the present invention and has a disk shape.

  The light source 21 of the optical recording head 20 only needs to emit sensitive coherent light to the polarization-sensitive optical recording medium 10, and when the optical recording medium 10 is made of polyester having cyanoazobenzene in the side chain, An argon ion laser that emits laser light having a wavelength of 515 nm, which belongs to the wavelength at which cyanoazobenzene is photoisomerized, can be used. On the other hand, the laser beam 5 from the light source 21 is transmitted through the beam splitter 25 and is incident on the spatial light modulator 30 as incident light 6 as parallel light by the lenses 22 and 23.

  The spatial light modulator 30 is assumed to be capable of polarization modulation. As such a spatial light modulator 30, a voltage-addressed liquid crystal panel, an electro-optic crystal with a matrix electrode, or the like can be used. The spatial light modulator having the LCD configuration shown in FIG. Unlike the above, no polarizer is provided.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of the spatial light modulator 30 capable of polarization modulation. Transparent electrodes 32 and 33 are formed on one surface of the transparent substrates 34 and 35, and an electro-optic conversion material such as a liquid crystal is formed between the transparent electrodes 32 and 33. A light valve configuration with 31 sandwiched therebetween, two-dimensionally forming a plurality of pixels, causing each pixel to function as a half-wave plate, and for each pixel to receive corresponding bit information of the two-dimensional data By giving the presence / absence of voltage application, the polarization of light incident on each pixel is modulated.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the incident light 6 that is parallel light is incident on the spatial light modulator 30 as s-polarized light. In the pixel 37a to which the voltage of the spatial light modulator 30 is not applied, the axis of the half-wave plate is parallel to the polarization direction of the incident light 6, so that the signal light 1a transmitted through the pixel 37a is s-polarized light. In contrast, in the pixel 37b to which the voltage of the spatial light modulator 30 is applied, the axis of the half-wave plate is rotated by 45 °, and the polarization direction of the incident light 6 is rotated by 90 °. The transmitted signal light 1b becomes p-polarized light. Therefore, the signal light 1 that has passed through the spatial light modulator 30 has a spatial polarization distribution corresponding to the two-dimensional data given to the spatial light modulator 30.

  As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the signal light 1 that has passed through the spatial light modulator 30 is Fourier-transformed to a Fourier transform plane P <b> 1 by a Fourier transform lens 24 and irradiated onto the optical recording medium 10. At the same time, the laser beam 5 from the light source 21 is reflected by the beam splitter 25 and reflected by the mirrors 26 and 27 to obtain the s-polarized reference beam 2, and the reference beam 2 is converted into the optical recording medium 10. The region irradiated with the signal light 1 is irradiated. Thereby, the polarization distribution of the signal light 1 corresponding to the two-dimensional data can be recorded on the optical recording medium 10 as a polarization hologram.

  By rotating the optical recording medium 10 by the motor 29, it is possible to record a plurality of polarization holograms at different locations in the circumferential direction of the optical recording medium 10. At this time, shift multiplex recording can be performed by using a spherical wave as the reference beam 2. Furthermore, by moving the optical recording head 20 in the radial direction of the optical recording medium 10, a polarization hologram can be recorded so as to form concentric recording tracks in the optical recording medium 10, as shown in FIG. it can.

  According to the optical recording method and the optical recording apparatus described above, since the spatial light modulator 30 does not have a polarizing plate, there is no light loss in the spatial light modulator 30, and the signal light 1 receives data information by spatial polarization distribution. Since it is held, the light intensity distribution of the signal light 1 is constant. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the S / N of the signal light 1 from being deteriorated due to a decrease in the amount of light in the spatial light modulator 30 or a fluctuation in the light intensity of the signal light 1, and data can be recorded at high density and at high speed. Moreover, no special coding method is required.

  Furthermore, according to the optical recording method and the optical recording apparatus described above, the signal light 1 that has passed through the spatial light modulator 30 has a spatial polarization distribution according to the two-dimensional data provided to the spatial light modulator 30. Thus, the recording area of the optical recording medium 10 is always irradiated with either s-polarized light or p-polarized light, and a portion that is not irradiated with light according to the contents of the two-dimensional data as in the case of recording a light intensity hologram. It does not occur and, as described above, a new polarization direction can be overwritten without erasing the previous polarization direction.

  Therefore, according to the above-described optical recording method and optical recording apparatus, data can be rewritten at high speed and reliably without requiring an erasing process.

[3. Embodiment of Optical Reading Method and Optical Reading Device]
FIG. 17 shows an example of the optical reading method and the optical reading apparatus of the present invention. The optical recording medium 10 is polarization-sensitive and disk-shaped, and holds two-dimensional data with a spatial polarization distribution as shown in FIG. 16 by the method or apparatus shown in FIGS. The signal light 1 to be recorded is recorded as a hologram.

  From the reading light optical system 41 including the light source of the optical reading head 40, the phase conjugate light of the reference light at the time of recording is obtained as the reading light 3, and the reading light 3 is irradiated to the area where the hologram of the optical recording medium 10 is recorded. To do. Thereby, as the diffracted light 4 from the hologram, phase conjugate light in which the polarization direction of the signal light during recording is preserved is obtained as shown in FIG.

  However, in this case, when the diffraction intensities of the light intensity hologram and the polarization hologram are not equal, the diffraction efficiency of the s-polarized light and that of the p-polarized light are different, so that the polarization direction of the read diffracted light 4 is different from that of the signal light 1. It becomes like this. However, in this case, by arranging a polarizer or a wave plate in the optical path of the diffracted light 4, the diffracted light 4 having the same polarization direction as that of the signal light 1 can be obtained.

  The diffracted light 4 is converted into parallel light by a lens 42 and is incident on a polarization beam splitter 43 to be separated into an s-polarized component 7S and a p-polarized component 7P, and the s-polarized component 7S is detected by a photodetector array 44S. Alternatively, the p-polarized component 7P is detected by the photodetector array 44P. As the photodetector arrays 44S and 44P, a CCD, a photodetector array, or the like can be used.

  As shown in FIG. 18, the s-polarized component 7S and the p-polarized component 7P are in a relationship between a negative image and a positive image, and one of them is detected by one of the photodetector arrays, and is held by the spatial polarization distribution of the diffracted light 4 The two-dimensional data recorded, that is, the two-dimensional data recorded on the optical recording medium 10 can be read.

  By rotating the optical recording medium 10 by the motor 49, it is possible to read out a plurality of holograms recorded at different locations in the circumferential direction of the optical recording medium 10. Further, by moving the optical reading head 40 in the radial direction of the optical recording medium 10, it is possible to read a hologram from a recording track formed concentrically in the optical recording medium 10.

  According to the above-described optical reading method and optical reading apparatus, data recorded on the optical recording medium 10 can be read at high speed and with high accuracy. Further, the hologram diffracted light 4 which is the phase conjugate light of the signal light automatically cancels the aberration of the lens 42 on the optical path and is automatically imaged at the focal length position of the lens 42. There are no restrictions.

[4. Other Embodiments of Optical Recording Method or Apparatus and Optical Reading Method or Apparatus]
FIG. 19 shows another example of the optical recording method or optical recording apparatus of the present invention and the optical reading method or optical reading apparatus of the present invention.

  The optical recording method or optical recording apparatus is the same as the method or apparatus shown in FIGS. However, in this example, a shutter 28 is provided on the optical path of the laser light that has passed through the beam splitter 25, and during recording, the shutter 28 is opened to obtain the incident light 6 that has been made parallel light, and has a spatial polarization distribution. Signal light 1 is obtained.

  Also in this example, data can be rewritten at high speed without requiring an erasing process as described above.

  In this example, as the optical reading method or the optical reading device, the reading light 3 is not the phase conjugate light of the reference light 2 at the time of recording, but the same light as the reference light 2 at the time of recording.

  That is, in this example, at the time of reading, the shutter 28 is closed, the laser light reflected by the beam splitter 25 is reflected by the mirrors 26 and 27, and the hologram of the optical recording medium 10 is recorded as the s-polarized reading light 3. The irradiated area is irradiated. Thereby, as the diffracted light 4 from the hologram, as shown in FIG. 18, light in which the polarization direction of the signal light during recording is preserved is obtained. The diffracted light 4 is converted into parallel light by a lens 42 and detected by a photodetector array 44.

  However, although omitted in FIG. 19, a polarizing beam splitter or a wave plate is arranged between the lens 42 and the photodetector array 44 as shown in FIG. The polarization component and the p polarization component are detected separately, or either the s polarization component or the p polarization component is detected.

  Also in this example, data recorded on the optical recording medium 10 can be read out at high speed and with high accuracy.

[5. Optical reading method and optical reading apparatus for improving S / N]
In the optical reading method or optical reading apparatus shown in FIG. 17 (or FIG. 19), the light of the s-polarized component 7S and the p-polarized component 7P separated by the polarizing beam splitter 43 and detected by the photodetector arrays 44S and 44P. By comparing and calculating the intensity, noise caused by fluctuation of the diffracted light 4, influence of external light, imperfection of the optical recording medium 10 and the optical system, etc. is canceled, and a higher S / N read output Can be obtained.

  FIG. 20 shows the comparison calculation method. In the subtraction circuit 45, the detection output of the photodetector array 44S is subtracted from the detection output of the photodetector array 44P for each corresponding pixel (bit).

  Assuming that the diffracted light of the i-th pixel is p-polarized light, its signal component is Ipi, and the noise component is Ni, for the i-th pixel, the output of the photodetector array 44P is the sum of the signal component Ipi and the noise component Ni. (Ipi + Ni), the output of the photodetector array 44S is only the noise component Ni, and the output of the subtraction circuit 45 is the signal component Ipi with the noise component Ni canceled.

  If the diffracted light of the jth pixel is s-polarized light, its signal component is Isj, and the noise component is Nj, the output of the photodetector array 44P is only the noise component Nj for the jth pixel, and the photodetector The output of the array 44S is the sum (Isj + Nj) of the signal component Isj and the noise component Nj, and the output of the subtraction circuit 45 is only the signal component -Isj with the noise component Nj canceled.

  When reading binary digital data, for example, it may be determined as [1] when the output value of the subtraction circuit 45 is positive, and [0] when the output value is negative.

  As described above, according to the above-described optical reading method and optical reading apparatus, noise can be canceled for each pixel, and an output value of 0 (zero) is always set as a threshold regardless of the light intensity of the diffracted light 4. The data value can be determined based on whether the output value is positive or negative.

[6. Multiple recording with changing polarization direction of signal light]
As described above, the polarization-sensitive optical recording medium of the present invention includes a hologram that holds data information by intensity distribution or phase distribution by multiplexing the polarization hologram and changing the polarization direction of the signal light. Can be recorded in the same area.

  Hereinafter, an example of the optical recording method and the optical reading method in this case will be described. At the time of recording, first, as shown in FIG. 21A, the signal light 1 and the reference light 2 are both s-polarized light, and a hologram is recorded in the region 15 of the polarization-sensitive optical recording medium 10. The hologram at this time is a hologram based on the light intensity distribution as described above with reference to FIG.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 21B, the reference light 2 remains s-polarized and the signal light 1 is p-polarized, and a hologram is recorded in the region 15 of the optical recording medium 10. The hologram at this time is a hologram based on the polarization distribution as described above with reference to FIG. However, either the light intensity hologram or the polarization hologram may be recorded first.

  At the time of reading, as shown in FIG. 21C, the phase conjugate light of the reference light 2 at the time of recording is recorded in the region 15 where the light intensity hologram and the polarization hologram are recorded in a multiplexed manner as described above. The reading light 3 is irradiated. As a result, the diffracted light 4 from the region 15 has an s-polarized component by the light intensity hologram by the s-polarized signal light and a p-polarized component by the polarization hologram by the p-polarized signal light.

  The diffracted light 4 is separated into an s-polarized component 7S and a p-polarized component 7P by a polarization beam splitter 43 as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, and the s-polarized component 7S is detected by a photodetector array 44S. By detecting the p-polarized component 7P by the photodetector array 44P, the light intensity hologram and the polarization hologram, that is, the s-polarized signal light data and the p-polarized signal light data can be separated and extracted. it can.

  As described above, according to the method described above, a plurality of holograms can be recorded in the same area of the optical recording medium 10 and a plurality of holograms can be separated and read out from the same area. It becomes possible.

[7. Data recording by rotating the polarization angle of signal light]
Since the polarization hologram generates light in which the polarization direction of the signal light is preserved as the diffracted light, it is possible to record information according to the difference in the polarization angle by rotating the polarization angle of the signal light. Moreover, at the same time, by changing the light intensity of the signal light, it is possible to record information according to the difference in light intensity, so that high-density recording can be realized.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 22, the polarization angle of the signal light is within a range of 90 ° including the s-polarization direction (0 °) and the p-polarization direction (90 °) from the s-polarization direction to the p-polarization direction. Six polarization angles as shown by vectors D1 to D6 are set. Such six polarization angles can be encoded to represent six bits, and can be a number to the base 6 or a binary format encoded number to the sixth power. The lengths of the vectors D1 to D6 indicate the light intensity of the signal light at the respective polarization angles, which are also set in a plurality of stages and can be encoded to represent a plurality of bits.

  The signal light whose polarization angle is thus rotated can be obtained by the spatial light modulator 30 shown in FIGS. Alternatively, the spatial intensity distribution of s-polarized light and the spatial intensity distribution of p-polarized light may be combined by a beam splitter.

  At the time of reading, as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the diffracted light 4 from the hologram is separated into the s-polarized component 7S and the p-polarized component 7P by the polarization beam splitter 43, and the s-polarized component 7S is detected by the photodetector array 44S. And the p-polarized component 7P is detected by the photodetector array 44P. Further, as shown in FIG. 23, the detection outputs of the photodetector arrays 44S and 44P are supplied to a comparison operation unit including a division circuit 46, a square root calculation circuit 47, and an arctangent calculation circuit 48, and corresponding pixels (bits) are supplied. ) For each comparison.

When the light intensity of diffracted light of a pixel is I and the polarization angle (s polarization direction is 0 °) is θ, the intensity Is of the s-polarized component and the intensity Ip of the p-polarized component are respectively
Is = Icos ² θ (1)
Ip = Isin ² θ (2)
Given in.

Therefore, by dividing the p-polarized light intensity Ip by the s-polarized light intensity Is by the dividing circuit 46, tan ² θ is obtained from the dividing circuit 46, tan θ is obtained from the square root calculating circuit 47, and the polarization angle is obtained from the arctangent calculating circuit 48. θ is obtained. Therefore, information based on the difference in the polarization angle of the signal light can be read.

[8. Embodiment of Optical Search Method and Optical Search Device]
FIG. 24 shows an embodiment of the optical search method and optical search apparatus of the present invention. The optical recording medium 10 has a polarization sensitive and disk shape, and is two-dimensionally distributed by a spatial polarization distribution as shown in FIG. 16 by the method or apparatus shown in FIG. 13 to FIG. 16 or FIG. The signal light 1 holding the searched data is recorded as a hologram.

  The optical search head (optical read head) 60 is provided with a spatial light modulator 30 as shown in FIG. 13 to FIG. 15 or FIG. 19, and two-dimensional search data is written in this as shown in FIG. . That is, the information of the bit corresponding to the search data is given to each pixel of the spatial light modulator 30 as the presence / absence of voltage application, and each pixel functioning as a half-wave plate is incident on this pixel. Is in a state of modulating the polarization according to the information of the corresponding bit of the search data.

  Then, similarly to the optical reading method or optical reading apparatus shown in FIG. 17, the phase conjugate light of the reference light at the time of recording is obtained as the reading light 3 from the reading light optical system 61 including the light source of the optical search head 60, The readout light 3 is applied to the area where the hologram of the optical recording medium 10 is recorded, and as diffracted light 4 from the hologram, as shown in FIG. 25, phase conjugate light in which the polarization direction of the signal light during recording is preserved. Get.

  The diffracted light 4 is converted into parallel light by the lens 62 and imaged on the spatial light modulator 30, and the diffracted light that has passed through the spatial light modulator 30 is polarized by the lenses 63 and 64 constituting the imaging optical system. The light is incident on the beam splitter 43 and separated into the s-polarized component 7S and the p-polarized component 7P, and the s-polarized component 7S is detected by the photodetector array 44S, or the p-polarized component 7P is detected by the photodetector array 44P. .

  In this case, by rotating the optical recording medium 10 by the motor 69, a plurality of holograms recorded at different locations in the circumferential direction of the optical recording medium 10 are read out, and the optical search head 60 is moved to the diameter of the optical recording medium 10. By moving in the direction, the hologram is read from the recording track formed concentrically in the optical recording medium 10.

  The hologram diffracted light 4 having the polarization information of the data to be searched is phase conjugate light in which the polarization direction of the signal light at the time of recording is preserved. Therefore, there is a case where the search data and the data to be searched completely match. The diffracted light that has passed through the spatial light modulator 30 becomes s-polarized light in all the pixels due to the phase correction effect of the phase conjugate light that the wavefront passes through the phase distortion medium twice to cancel the wavefront distortion. Therefore, the s-polarized component 7S separated by the polarization beam splitter 43 becomes [bright] in all pixels, and the p-polarized component 7P becomes [dark] in all pixels.

  On the other hand, if the search data does not match the search target data, the phase conjugate light does not have a phase correction action, so that the diffracted light that has passed through the spatial light modulator 30 is the search data and the search target data. It becomes p-polarized light in the pixel where does not match.

  Accordingly, by monitoring the total intensity of the s-polarized component 7S or the p-polarized component 7P from the detection output of the photodetector array 44S or 44P, whether or not the search data and the search target data completely match or is searched. The degree of correlation between the business data and the searched data can be detected. In this case, by comparing and calculating the total intensities of the s-polarized component 7S and the p-polarized component 7P, the noise is canceled and the coincidence / mismatch or the degree of correlation can be detected with higher accuracy.

  As shown in FIG. 25, for example, the search data {m, n} address is s-polarized light (1 of {m, n} address 30c of the spatial light modulator 30). When the {m, n} address of the data to be searched is p-polarized light, the diffracted light 4c at the address {m, n} is transmitted from the spatial light modulator 30 { By passing through the m, n} address 30c, it becomes p-polarized light.

  In addition, the address {k, l} of the search data is p-polarized light (the axis of the half-wave plate of the {k, l} address 30d of the spatial light modulator 30 is rotated by 45 °), and {{ When the k, l} address is s-polarized light, the diffracted light 4d at the {k, l} address passes through the {k, l} address 30d of the spatial light modulator 30 and becomes p-polarized light.

  That is, the diffracted light that has passed through the spatial light modulator 30 becomes s-polarized light at the address where the search data matches the searched data, and becomes p-polarized light at the address that does not match. Therefore, the s-polarized component 73S separated by the polarization beam splitter 43 becomes [dark] at the address where the search data and the searched data do not match, and conversely, the p-polarized component 73P matches the search data and the searched data. It becomes [bright] at the address that does not.

  Therefore, each address (bit) between the search data and the search target data is detected by detecting the brightness of each address of the s-polarized component 7S or p-polarized component 7P from the detection output of the photodetector array 44S or 44P. Match / mismatch can be detected. Similarly to the optical reading method or optical reading apparatus shown in FIG. 17, as shown in FIG. 20, the noise is canceled by calculating the light intensity of the s-polarized component 7S and the p-polarized component 7P. It is possible to detect a match / mismatch for each address with higher accuracy.

  According to this optical search method and optical search device, the optical search head 60 is formed in the concentric circle shape of the optical recording medium 10 with the search data written in the spatial light modulator 30 of the optical search head 60. By moving the optical recording medium 10 on the track and rotating the optical recording medium 10 by the motor 69, only two-dimensional data matching the search data is quickly and highly accurately from the optical recording medium 10 on which a large amount of data is recorded. Can be taken out with. Moreover, since the search data used as the collation part can be set arbitrarily and easily, any data can be easily searched.

It is a figure which shows the cross-section of the optical recording medium of this invention. It is a figure which shows the chemical formula of the trans structure of azobenzene, the cis structure, and the chemical structure of the polyester which has cyano azobenzene in a side chain. It is a figure where it uses for description of the hologram by light intensity distribution, and the hologram by polarization distribution. It is a figure which shows the optical system used for experiment. It is a figure which shows the diffracted light intensity with respect to the hologram recording time when the polarization directions of signal light and reference light are parallel, orthogonal, and 45 °. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the polarization angle of hologram diffraction light when the polarization direction of signal light and reference light is parallel, and light intensity. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the polarization angle of hologram diffracted light when the polarization direction of signal light and reference light is orthogonal, and light intensity. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the polarization angle of hologram diffracted light when the polarization direction of signal light and reference light is 45 degrees, and light intensity. It is a figure where it uses for description of the hologram multiplex recording by the difference in the polarization angle of reference light. It is a figure which shows the optical system used for experiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the polarization angle of the diffracted light from the hologram recorded before the case of rewriting, and light intensity. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the polarization angle of the diffracted light from the hologram recorded after the case of rewriting, and light intensity. It is a figure which shows an example of the optical recording method and optical recording apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows a mode that a recording track is formed with the method and apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the spatial light modulator which can be polarization-modulated used for the method and apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the polarization distribution of the signal light by the method and apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the optical reading method and optical reading apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the polarization distribution of the hologram diffracted light by the method and apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the optical recording method thru | or apparatus of this invention, and the optical reading method thru | or apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the comparison calculation method for raising S / N of reading output. It is a figure where it uses for description of the multiplex recording which changed the polarization direction of signal light. It is a figure where it uses for description of the data recording which rotated the polarization angle of signal light. It is a figure which shows the comparison calculation method at the time of reading at the time of recording data by rotating the polarization angle of signal light. It is a figure which shows an example of the optical search method and optical search apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows a mode that data are searched with the method and apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the conventional search method. It is a figure which shows the conventional recording method and the correlation detection method. It is a figure which shows the spatial light modulator of the LCD structure used for the conventional method.

Explanation of symbols

  Since all the main parts are described in the figure, they are omitted here.

Claims (5)

Simultaneously irradiates an optical recording medium having a polarization-sensitive layer exhibiting light-induced birefringence with linearly polarized first signal light that retains first data by the light intensity distribution and linearly polarized first reference light. Then, the light intensity distribution of the first signal light is recorded on the polarization sensitive layer as a first hologram,
Next, the linearly polarized second signal light that retains the second data by the light intensity distribution and the linearly polarized second reference light, the polarization direction of the second signal light, and the second reference The relationship between the polarization direction of the light is changed with respect to the relationship between the polarization direction of the first signal light and the polarization direction of the first reference light, and the optical recording medium is irradiated simultaneously, and the second An optical recording method in which the light intensity distribution of the signal light is used as a second hologram, and is multiplexed and recorded on the first hologram in a region of the polarization sensitive layer where the first hologram is recorded. The optical recording method according to claim 1, wherein
One of the relationship between the polarization direction of the first signal light and the polarization direction of the first reference light, and the relationship between the polarization direction of the second signal light and the polarization direction of the second reference light. An optical recording method in which the directions are parallel and the other is orthogonal. An optical recording medium having a polarization-sensitive layer exhibiting light-induced birefringence, and holding the first and second data in the same region of the polarization-sensitive layer by the light intensity distribution, respectively. The first and second signal lights are linearly polarized first and second reference lights, respectively, and the relationship between the polarization direction of the second signal light and the polarization direction of the second reference light is The linearly polarized light is linearly polarized on the optical recording medium, which is changed in relation to the relationship between the polarization direction of the first signal light and the polarization direction of the first reference light, and is multiplexed and recorded as the first and second holograms, respectively. The hologram diffracted light is obtained, and the hologram diffracted light is separated into two polarization components having different polarization directions, and the light intensity of the two polarization components is detected, and the first diffracted light is detected. Separating the data and the second data Light reading method read by. An optical recording medium having a polarization-sensitive layer exhibiting light-induced birefringence, and holding the first and second data in the same region of the polarization-sensitive layer by the light intensity distribution, respectively. The first and second signal lights are linearly polarized first and second reference lights, respectively, and the relationship between the polarization direction of the second signal light and the polarization direction of the second reference light is The linearly polarized light is linearly polarized on the optical recording medium, which is changed in relation to the relationship between the polarization direction of the first signal light and the polarization direction of the first reference light, and is multiplexed and recorded as the first and second holograms, respectively. A readout light optical system that obtains hologram diffraction light by irradiating the readout light of
An optical means for separating the hologram diffracted light into two polarization components having different polarization directions;
A photodetector for separately detecting the light intensity of the two separated polarization components;
An optical reader comprising: An optical recording medium having a polarization sensitive layer exhibiting light-induced birefringence,
The first and second linearly polarized light beams respectively holding the first and second data according to the light intensity distribution are respectively converted into the second signal by the linearly polarized first and second reference lights, respectively. The relationship between the polarization direction of light and the polarization direction of the second reference light is changed with respect to the relationship between the polarization direction of the first signal light and the polarization direction of the first reference light. An optical recording medium in which the first and second holograms are recorded in the same region of the polarization sensitive layer in a multiplexed manner.

Images