Abstract

New systems to optical memory, which are based on the photostimulated luminescence (PSL) phenomenon in electron trapping phosphor materials for optical storage, have been studied in the fields of optical parallel Boolean logic operation [1], two-dimensional optical associative memory [2] and optical neural networks [3,4], The electron trapping phosphor materials can emit different output photons that correlate spatially in intensity with input photons. Consequently, the phosphor materials can be used to store optical information as trapped electrons and the information stored can be read out by a laser beam scanning of the phosphor material. The unique features of the electron trapping phosphor materials that exhibit the PSL phenomenon provide the potential for high bit storage densities, high data transfer, and fast recovery speeds. [5] Important characteristics of a good electron trapping phosphor materials for optical memory are high PSL brightness for low noise, short luminescent lifetime for minimum readout time, and low light scattering for high bit densities. Especially, the electron trapping phosphor materials using transparent thin film provides an efficient PSL and low light scattering.

© 1996 Optical Society of America