Erasable optical memory and method
US5759447A · kind A · utility
10Cited by
3References
22Claims
0Family size
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 22, 1995 |
| Grant date | Jun 2, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 22, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B7/2467
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An erasable optical memory is provided by an erasable bistable photoactive chromophore that is covalently bonded to a polymer microsphere. An azobenzene chromophore that is bonded to the microsphere by an oxygen or NH replacement of chlorine, or a CH double bond to N, is preferred. An array of such microspheres is encoded by applying radiation at a resonant wavelength to induce a conformational change in the chromophores for selected microspheres, and the encoded pattern is read out by detecting changes in either absorption or fluorescence.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.