Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Esa Tapani Räikkönen

Anton Viljami Autere

Risto Mutikainen

Simo Kaarlo Tapani Tammela

Nikolai Chekurov

Philip Athelstan Wainman

Krista Anna Alice Paasonen

Antti Pekka Virolainen

Tuomo Antero Von Lerber

Birgit Siviä Debora Päivänranta

A differential voxel symbol reader is alternatively configured to detect phase or polarization changes in a probe light beam caused by interactions with voxels distributed in an optical storage medium as light-scattering nanostructures. Rather than determine an absolute change in the state of the probe signal from an interaction with a voxel being read, a relative change is detected by comparing the probe light beam against an orthogonally-polarized reference light beam that propagates over an overlapping path with the probe light beam. The overlapping paths for the probe and reference light beams provide that each is subject to substantially the same impairments during propagation through the medium. The overlap largely cancels the effects of light scattering and impairments from the other voxels in the medium that cause shifts in phase and/or polarization which would otherwise scramble the signals to thereby reduce the accuracy and reliability of the reading process.

Differential phase voxel symbol determination

A method for balancing pulse energies across a series of write beams in an optical data writer comprises: (a) for each write beam of the series, applying an independently controllable phase delay to the write beam, thereby changing the polarization of the write beam; and (b) for each write beam with changed polarization in the series, directing a selected plane-polarized component of the write beam through a data modulator and onto an optical substrate. In this method the data modulator modulates each write beam of the series irrespective of the tolerance across the series of write beams.

Beam balancer for optical data writing

Growing community of inventors

Espoo, Finland

Esa Tapani Räikkönen