Besides technical books on industrial optical recording, this book is the first to concentrate on the physical aspects of this field. Thus, physicists and engineers, but also students specializing in applied optics, will find a thorough review of the state of the art and the physical principles of optical information storing. After careful study of the book, the reader will be able to evaluate new ideas and progress in this important field.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 1.1 Visual Impressions and Optics.- 1.2 Imaging in the Eye and Optical Recording.- 1.3 Digital and Holographic Recording.- 1.4 Recording Time and Data Rate.- 1.5 Storage Capacity.- 1.6 Applications of Real Time Optical Recording.- 2. The Principles of Optical Recording.- 2.1 The Invention of Photography and Real Time Recording.- 2.2 Optical Recording Processes.- 2.3 Survey of Optical Recording Media and Their Uses.- 2.4 Holography.- 2.5 Light Sensitivity of Recording Materials.- 3. Lasers, Nonlinear Optics and Photoelectric Detectors.- 3.1 Absorption and Emission of Light.- 3.2 Lasers.- 3.3 Nonlinear Optics.- 3.4 Light Modulation.- 3.5 Photoelectric Detectors.- 4. Photoinduced Processes in Optical Recording Materials.- 4.1 Inorganic Photochromic Crystals.- 4.2 Photorefractive Materials.- 4.3 Chalcogenide Semiconductors.- 4.4 Organic and Polymer Materials.- 4.5 Persistent Spectral Hole Burning.- 5. Digital Recording on Optical Memory Discs.- 5.1 Commonly Available Optical Memory Discs.- 5.2 Photothermal Recording.- 5.3 Light Stimulated Recombination Luminescence.- 6. Summary and Looking Ahead.- References.- Recording Medium Index.