title: All-optical subdiffraction multilevel data encoding onto azo-polymeric thin films.
abstract: By exploiting photoinduced reorientation in azo-polymer thin films, we demonstrate all-optical polarization-encoded information storage with a scanning near-field optical microscope. In the writing routine, five-level bits are created by associating different bit values to different birefringence directions, induced in the polymer after illumination with linearly polarized light. The reading routine is then performed by implementing polarization-modulation techniques on the same near-field microscope in order to measure the encoded birefringence direction.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Epitaxial Nanostructures on Silicon and Spintronics-Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Savoini
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Biagioni
authors.forename: Lamberto
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Duò
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Finazzi