Patent ID: 7428205

Claim:
A method of reading a set of data stored in a memory device, the method comprising: causing a first optical beam to interfere with a second optical beam at a prescribed angle therebetween at a first selected hologram containing at least a segment of the set of data and having a discrete location and a corresponding address in the memory device, generating thereby an N th diffraction order wavefront; wherein the first and second optical beams are characterized by a wavelength, an optical path length and a state of polarization; sensing the N th diffraction order wavefront diffracted from the hologram; correlating the N th diffraction order wavefront with a correlation pattern which includes the set of data; where N is an integer; if a correlation peak occurs, deconvolving the N th order wavefront and the correlation pattern; reading the set of data corresponding to the selected hologram and contained in the deconvolved N th diffraction order wavefront; and, reading the set of data in the N th diffraction order wavefront for a second selected hologram by changing the wavelength of one optical beam with respect to the other.