Patent ID: 6972982

Claim:
A holographic system for storing data on an interference pattern in a hologram storage medium, which comprises: a light source for emitting a laser beam; a beam splitter for dividing the laser beam into a reference beam and a signal beam; means for modulating the signal beam to generate a modulated signal beam; and a refractive material for refracting the reference beam to generate a refracted reference beam, wherein the refracted reference beam interferes with the modulated signal beam in the hologram storage medium to generate the interference pattern, wherein the refractive material is a ring-shaped prism for conically dispersing the refracted reference beam on the hologram storage medium, the ring-shaped prism being a truncated cone including in an inner channel formed therein, the inner channel having a first refractive surface to which the reference beam is provided and a second refractive surface from which the reference beam is outputted.