How does Holographic Memory Work?
Holographic memory is a crystal or photopolymer-based, next-generation memory storage technology competing with many others for dominance of the future computer memory market. It is currently in the research and development stage, meaning that many successful prototypes have been built, but the technology is still being improved and has not yet been commercialized. Commercialization is expected in late 2006, when both Optware and Maxwell will release variants of the Holographic Versatile Disc capable of containing 200 gigabytes (GB) and 300GB of data, respectively. In a few years, the mature form of the disc is expected to reach the market. This model will hold almost 4 terabytes (TB), or 4000GB, enough to contain 8,700 hours of video. Like other forms of optical data storage, holographic memory uses lasers to encode data in the medium. However, instead of using a series of pits and grooves to store data, as in a compact disc, holographic memory is encoded as an interference pattern be
