Objective
The development of an optical recording, storage and retrieval system has been investigated. The system incorporates an erasable polymeric storage medium, laser based data recording components, and data retrieval components.
Key characteristics were:
no additional wet chemical processing during or after recording;
erasability of the stored information;
hook up to digital memories. The recording mechanism consists of laser induced thermooptic effects in thin film liquid crystalline polymers. Novel, infrared diode laser light absorbing polymers were developed for this purpose. These polymers were shaped into free standing multilayer polymeric films comprising a substrate, the recording layer and eventually a protectivecover layer, thus forming the integrated optical storage medium. Writing tests with lasers on the medium show the required recording energy densities of the order of 1 nanojoule per square micrometre. Test films have been prepared. Polymers, scanning and writing improvements are under study.
The research has successfully demonstrated a novel polymer optical storage film that can be bulk erased and a laser scanning engine suitable to write onto the film. This system is immediately applicable to the micrographics industry and other areas of analogue image storage. The film is also suitable for digital storage such as discs, tape and optical cards.
In order to produce the film, novel dyes and polymers were developed, some on a kilogram scale so that several metres of roll to roll film could be fabricated. Both the dyes and the polymers are state of the art materials which has enabled readily available infrared diode lasers to be used to write onto stable liquid crystalline polymer films.
The objective of the research was to develop a dye suitable for use in laser induced thermooptic recording. This required the synthesis of a series of infrared light (around 820 nm) absorbing dyes with extinction coefficients as high as possible, and preferably colourless in the visible wavelength range. The classes investigated were, among others, azo, squarylium and croconium dyes. The dyes were tested for their optical properties, solubility, and stability against ultraviolet light, temperature and chemical agencies. The economics of dyesynthesis was also considered, and synthetic procedures optimised. Promising candidates were to be used to make solid solutions (mixtures or blend) with liquid crystalline polymers (LCP).
The squaryliums showed reasonable thermal and chemical stability but limited solubility and are, therefore, attractive dyes for the purpose of incorporation into LCP's. The measured sensitivities after incorporation of these dyes into LCP's were not so good as expected.
The croconiums showed good thermal, chemical and photochemical stabilities but again limited solubility, and are, therefore, attractive dyes for the purpose of incorporation into LCP's. The croconium dye LCP combinations showed good recording sensitivities.
Azo were successfully incorporated into LCP's but exhibited limited thermal stability and undesired blue shifting of the spectral absorption outside the diode laser range.
Azomethine dyes were successfully incorporated into LCP's and the films showed reasonable recording sensitivities although the lower extinction coefficients mean that higher concentrations have to be used compared to squarylium or croconium.
The aim of the research was to develop a scanning system for use in laser induced thermooptical recording. The research has led to the construction of a scanning system based on a 6 facet polygon mirror. The optical system also includes a diode laser collimator for operation both at 820 nm and 670 nm and a scan lens system. An electronic drive system for the laser diode was built in and it performed satisfactory up to about 8 MHz.
In addition, a prototype plotter was completed which has the following characteristics:
a 40 mW infrared laser diode emitter which delivers 18 mW of power to the writing platen;
a 6 sided pyramid type polygon with a facet to facet accuracy of 3 seconds of arc which scans the laser beam across the writing platen;
a scan lens which focuses the collimated laser beam to a spot size of approximately 5 microns at the film;
A platen which holds the film in the focal plane of the scanning system by means of a vacuum hold down system;
the scanning speed is variable from 0.5 metres per second to 30 metres per second according to the film sensitivity;
the addressability of the laser spot is +/- 0.317 microns;
the data rate is up to 8 MHz depending on film sensitivity.
THIS PROJECT CONCERNS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTICAL RECORDING, STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM. THE SYSTEM INCORPORATES: ERASABLE POLYMERIC ANALOG STORAGE MEDIA, LASER BASED RECORDING COMPONENTS, AND DATA RETRIEVAL COMPONENTS.
THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP EASIER TO HANDLE AND MORE EFFICIENT RECORDING MATERIALS (OPTICAL POLYMERS) THAN THE PRESENTLY AVAILABLE ONES (E.G. PHOTOGRAPHIC FILMS). KEY FEATURES ARE: NO ADDITIONAL WET CHEMICAL PROCESSING REQUIRED DURING THE RECORDING STAGE, AND ERASABILITY OF THE STORED INFORMATION.
THE RECORDING IS PERFORMED BY LASER-INDUCED THERMO-OPTIC EFFECTS IN POLYMERS. TWO TYPES OF POLYMERS PERMITTING SUCH EFFECTS ARE DEVELOPED. THESE POLYMERS WILL BE SHAPED INTO FREE STANDING POLYMER FILMS INCLUDING A SUBSTRATE, THUS FORMING THE INTEGRATED OPTICAL STORAGE MEDIA.
SCANNING COMPONENTS WILL BE DEVELOPED, PERMITTING TO DIRECT THE RECORDING LASERBEAM OVER THE STORAGE MEDIUM.
A READ SYSTEM WILL BECOME AVAILABLE, TOO, IN ORDER TO RETRIEVE THE STORED INFORMATION AND MAKE, FOR INSTANCE, HARD COPIES.
A MECHANISM TO ERASE THE STORED INFORMATION WILL BE DEVELOPED, ENABLING TO USE THE SAME SPOT FOR THE STORAGE OF NEW DATA.
APPLICATIONS OF THE OPTICAL STORAGE MEDIA, THE RECORDING AND RETRIEVAL COMPONENTS, ARE IN COMPUTER MEMORIES, RECORDING OF ENGINEERING DRAWINGS, AND OFFICE DATA STORAGE. A MARKET STUDY AND TECHNO-ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT WILL BE CONDUCTED.
SOME NOVEL OPTICAL TEST-POLYMERS HAVE BEEN MADE; OPTIMISED AND IMPROVED VERSIONS ARE BEING DEVELOPED. INITIAL WRITING TESTS WITH LASER BEAMS ON THE POLYMERS SHOW ENCOURAGING RESULTS. FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS OF SCANNING AND WRITING CONDITIONS, AND OF POLYMER PROPERTIES ARE UNDER STUDY.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences economics and business economics
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
- engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
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Coordinator
6800 Arnhem
Netherlands
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