title: Rewritable polarization-encoded multilayer data storage in 2,5-dimethyl-4-(p-nitrophenylazo)anisole doped polymer.
abstract: We report a rewritable polarization-encoded multilayer data storage method with a polymer film doped with the azo dye DMNPAA (2,5-dimethyl-4-(p-nitrophenylazo)anisole). It is found that under two-photon excitation by a linearly polarized femtosecond laser beam at wavelength 780 nm the optical axis of DMNPAA molecules can be oriented to the perpendicular direction of the beam via a trans-cis-trans isomerization process. As a result, multilayer polarization-encoded optical data storage is demonstrated by recording two letters of a bit spacing of 4 microm in the same region of a given layer. It is shown that erasing and rewriting a particular layer is possible.
authors.affiliation: Center for Micro-Photonics, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, P.O. Box 218, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Austrailia.
authors.forename: Xiangping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: James W M
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Chon
authors.forename: Shuhui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gu