Patent ID: 8891344

Claim:
A write-once data storage system comprising: a digital data input that receives digital data to be recorded; a processor, coupled to the digital data input, running a first process that assigns frequencies of interest into a light control signal to store the digital data; a light sensitive storage medium having a transparent top layer on which is deposited a Lippmann emulsion on the bottom surface, wherein the emulsion has a thickness of several wavelengths of the assigned frequencies of interest and a grain size small enough to encode a vertical diffraction grating for each of the assigned frequencies of interest; a light source that produces a beam having all of the assigned frequencies of interest existing at the same time, wherein a subset of the assigned frequencies of interest containing less than the total number of the assigned frequencies of interest is produced to have a continuous wavelength bandwidth from a lowest to a highest frequency of the subset and the beam is manipulated to cause each wavelength contained within the continuous wavelength bandwidth to have substantially the same amplitude level, wherein the light source is modulatible, having a modulated input coupled to the light control signal; a positioning system within which the light source is mounted; and the processor, also being coupled to the positioning system, running a second process that controls the positioning system, wherein the processor controls the light source and the positioning system to cause the beam to expose a usable area of the emulsion to light that is modulated in a manner corresponding to the digital data input to create vertical diffraction gratings in the emulsion, wherein each vertical diffraction grating is created to correspond to only one of the assigned frequencies of interest and to correspond to the recorded digital data, wherein the vertical diffraction gratings are stored in the emulsion and provide archival storage of the digital data.