Rami Arieli: "The
Laser Adventure" Chapter 9.4.3 page 1
9.4.3 Optical Storage of Information
We already saw the Compact-Disc, or CD-ROM
in section 9.4.1 as a way to store information and read it optically.
There are storage devices which act like magnetic hard disc drives of a
computer, but store the information optically.
Both writing the information on the optical disc and reading it are
done using lasers.
These devices allow rewriting information on the optical disk thousands
of times, unlike CD, which is write-once device.
New devices, which are now at a research stage, are based on
holographic writing and reading of information (see chapter
10). These devices store a complete
page as an image, unlike the storage of bits in standard
storage devices.