Terastor Corporation

Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation

Other

Versatile Optical Networks, Inc.

Termstar Corporation

Warren Dalziel

Roger A Hajjar

Alan Claude Burroughs

Brian T Bonn

Brian Tremaine

Amit Jain

Guolin Ma

Scot Clifford Fairchild

Gordon R Knight

David Blankenbeckler

John Al-Samarrie

Michael A Maiers

Douglas R Plourde

Leo W Spychalla

Wayne M Hector

LeRoy A Volz

Thiruppathy Srinivasan

Frank Whitehead

Tom Schwartz

Jerrie R Powers

Techniques and devices based on contact optical heads in optical storage devices and systems. In one implementation, a load actuator is provided in an optical storage device and is operable to apply a force to cause the optical head to contact the optical disk at a contact location of an optical interfacing surface when reading or writing data and the optical interfacing surface is a curved surface with a protruded apex at or near which the load actuator causes the optical head to contact the optical disk during reading or writing data.

Contact optical head for data storage

Actuator-controlled mirrors with a Z-stop mechanism to reduce an undesired translational motion of the mirrors.

Actuator-controlled mirror with Z-stop mechanism

Structures of storage media for optical storage systems, especially for systems in the near-field configuration to couple radiation between the optical head and the media at least in part by evanescent fields.

Disk mastering based on near-field optical systems

Techniques and devices for using fibers that are angle-polished to reduce the adverse effects of optical reflection. Each fiber is mounted so that the longitudinal direction of the fiber core forms an angle with respect to an optical axis of a device along which an optical beam is coupled to or from the angle-polished end facet of the fiber.

Optical devices engaged to fibers with angle-polished facets

Controllable optical switches in response to feedback signals from optical position sensors that measure switch orientations. The optical position sensors may include local sensors that monitor and measure orientations of individual switches and global sensors that monitor and measure overall alignment of signal beams. Such switches may be used to form non-blocking switching arrays.

Actively-controllable optical switches based on optical position sensing and applications in optical switching arrays

A data storage disk cartridge having a dual housing structure includes an inner housing that contains a disk, and an outer housing that contains the inner housing. The inner housing is at least partially removable from the outer housing for insertion into a disk drive. The outer housing remains external to the disk drive, however, except for a portion that is inserted into the drive to provide a docking channel for retraction of the inner housing. A shutter on the inner housing covers a portion of the disk, but is manipulable by the disk drive to uncover the disk and allow drive access. The dual housing structure of the cartridge is capable of significantly improving disk and drive reliability, particularly for recording applications that require higher areal recording densities, such as near field optical recording. In particular, the disk cartridge reduces the accumulation of debris on the disk and drive components. The dual-housing disk cartridge provides a system of partially redundant barriers that significantly reduce the possibility of debris accumulation. The barriers form a hierarchy of cleanliness that stands between the outside environment and the disk and drive components. Consequently, in a preferred mode, the disk is never exposed to the outside environment. The reduced amounts of debris contribute to more consistent optical and mechanical performance of the disk and drive, and thereby enhance data storage reliability.

Disk cartridge with dual housing structure

Magneto-optical storage media designed for optical storage systems such as disk drives with optical flying heads. Dielectric layers are designed and implemented to maximize optical coupling between the flying optical head and the media and to reduce variations of signals with flight height of the flying optical head.

Storage media for optical storage systems

Optical storage systems based on air-bearing-suspended optical heads in a near-field configuration. Such a system comprises an optical head for reading and writing data and a head positioning system, an optics module including beam relay optics and signal detectors, and a medium holding and loading module to hold an optical medium. An electronic control system is also provided to control the system operation. The optical head includes a near-field lens with a high index of refraction and in a near-field configuration in which the near-field lens has a numerical aperture greater than unity when the spacing between an exit facet of the optical head and a recording layer in the optical medium is a fraction of one wavelength of optical beam.

Optical storage systems with flying optical heads for near-field recording and reading

Data storage disk cartridge housing

Growing community of inventors

Monte Sereno, CA, United States of America

Warren Dalziel