248-BIT OPTICAL-DATA STORAGE IN EU3+-YALO3 BY ACCUMULATED PHOTON-ECHOES

The successful storage and retrieval of 248-bit temporal optical data in Eu3+:YAlO3 by accumulated photon echoes is reported. Owing to the long storage time of this crystal, the input data can be written bit by bit by quickly varying the separation of two laser pulses, while the stored data are recalled simultaneously after some storage period, which extends up to a few hours. The maximum data length, previously thought to be limited by the optical dephasing time T2, has been found to be four times shorter than T2 and attributable to spectral diffusion. © 1990 Optical Society of America.