{"id":203,"date":"2021-02-15T13:48:04","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T13:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/?p=203"},"modified":"2026-06-26T10:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:43:09","slug":"holography-the-basics-of-holographic-storage-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/articles\/holography-the-basics-of-holographic-storage-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Holography And Holographic Storage Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Holography is a technique where an object is imaged in a way that, when viewed later, it appears three dimensional (3D). This is the basic method of generating holograms. Holograms are icreasingly in a variety of fields: art, security, data storage, and so on. In this article, we will focus on the possibilities of holographic data storage. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-is-there-a-need-for-holographic-storage\"><strong>Why is There a Need for Holographic Storage?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Archival storage is a necessary part of every enterprise\u2019s ability to meet compliance requirements and address litigation issues, however deep archiving is still a challenge. Tape is removable and securable but arouses concerns with long-term reliability and readability. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-does-holographic-storage-work\"><strong>How Does Holographic Storage Work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In holographic storage, a light field is produced by a laser source that illuminates both the object and the recording media. The scattered light from the object interferes with the reference light, creating a subsequent interference pattern that produces the image. Let us explore this in more depth. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Holographic storage works by storing a sequence of discrete data snapshots within the thickness of the media. When a laser beam splits into two signals, the storage process begins. One beam is a reference signal and the other beam (known as the data-carrying beam) passes through a device called a special light modulator (SLM). This acts as a fine shutter system, passing and blocking light at points corresponding to ones and zeroes. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reference beam is then reflected to impose on the data-carrying beam within the media. This produces a three-dimensional refraction pattern (the hologram) that the media captures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Holographic storage employs circular media, much like a blank CD\/DVD that spins to accept data across a continuous spiral data bath. When the media is written, data is read back with the reference beam illuminating the refraction. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three-dimensional aspect of data recording is a critical difference between holographic storage and standard CD\/DVD recording. Traditional optical media employs a single laser beam to write data in two dimensions along a continuous spiral data bath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conversely, prototype holographic storage products can save one million pixels at a time in discrete snapshots, also known as pages, which form microscopic cones through the thickness of the light-sensitive media. Over 4.4 million individual pages can be on the disk storage. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-benefits-of-holographic-storage\"><strong>Benefits of Holographic Storage<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For deep archiving purposes, long-term media stability and reliability are compelling advantages of holographic storage, particularly over tape and discs which cannot ensure reliability over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Holographic storage is also portable. This allows the distribution of dense data that cannot be easily sent across other networks such as broadcast or high-definition video. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Holography and holographic storage is also appealing for short term backups and archives. Companies are beginning to rely less and less on tape backups. Holographic storage attached to a virtual tape library could be a beneficial replacement to tapes. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Holographic storage capacity and performance is below current disc and tape systems. However, they compare favorably to existing optical storage devices. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As holography and holographic storage technology generally focuses on a niche in the storage market, more capable and cost-effective systems may take a while to produce. However, the possible introduction of hybrid holographic media could speed up this process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you would like to learn more about holographic storage, or the importance of precision optics in holography, contact a us today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Holography is a technique where an object is imaged in a way that, when viewed later, it appears three dimensional (3D). This is the basic method of generating holograms. Holograms are icreasingly in a variety of fields: art, security, data storage, and so on. In this article, we will focus on the possibilities of holographic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":4044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"card_thumbnail_id":0,"show_table_of_content":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[171,158],"tags":[187],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-articles","tag-laser-sources"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Holography And Holographic Storage Basics - Precision Manufacturing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/articles\/holography-the-basics-of-holographic-storage-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holography And Holographic Storage Basics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Holography is a technique where an object is imaged in a way that, when viewed later, it appears three dimensional (3D). 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