Digital optical recorder-reproducer system

Abstract

A mass archival optical recording and reproduction system includes a recording light source such as a laser beam focussed and directed upon an acousto-optic linear modulator array (or page composer) that receives parallel blocks of data converted from a serial stream of digital data to be stored. The page composer imparts to the laser beam modulation representative of a plurality of parallel channels of data and through focussing optics downstream of the page composer parallel arrays of optical spots are recorded upon a suitable recording medium such as a photographic film floppy disc. The recording medium may be substantially frictionlessly and stably positioned for recording at a record/read station by an air-bearing platen arrangement which is preferably thermodynamically non-throttling so that the recording film may be positioned in the path of the information-carrying light beam in a static or dynamic mode. During readout, the page composer is bypassed and a readout light beam is focussed directly upon the recording medium containing an array of previously recorded digital spots, a sync bit, data positioning bits, and a tracking band. The readout beam which has been directed through the recording medium is then imaged upon a photodetector array, the output of which may be coupled to suitable electronic processing circuitry, such as a digital multiplexer, whereby the parallel spot array is converted back into the original serial data stream.