Patent ID: 7876446

Claim:
An interferometric confocal method for writing to and/or reading from terabyte volume optical data storage devices, comprising: radiating electromagnetic radiation from at least one multi-wavelength source ( 1 , 1 a ) onto a terabyte volume optical data storage device; and imaging reflected or transmitted electromagnetic radiation of an interior of the terabyte volume optical data storage device onto a screened receiver ( 11 ), after the electromagnetic radiation has passed through a two-beam interferometer, a chromatic confocal microscope and a spectrometer, wherein the spectrometer ( 100 ) is disposed upstream of the screened receiver ( 11 ), and the two-beam interferometer works with an optical path difference not equal to zero, and in the case of a reflective region in the terabyte volume optical storage device ( 108 ), at least one wavelet is generated over a spectral axis of the spectrometer ( 100 ).