In this paper, we review many of the technical issues that must be addressed in developing high-quality optical disk recording media. The geometric design of tracking grooves and embossed data on the disk substrate must be optimized to the characteristics of the optical drive to support robust data seeking, track following, and data addressing. To ensure adequate recording performance and drive...

The distribution of audio information in disk format—sound stored as modulations in a flat surface—has had a long and successful track record. At first, analog signals were imprinted on shellac and then later vinyl platters. But recently, sound has been almost exclusively distributed as and replayed from digitally encoded data, molded into the surface of compact polymer disks. This migration wa...

Since the introduction of optical data storage systems in the 1970s, we have observed a stepwise increase in their storage capacity using the same means for resolution improvement as in classical microscopy and optical lithography, namely, a reduction in the source wavelength and an increase in the numerical aperture of the imaging optics. In this paper we briefly address the historical develop...

Although the basic idea may be traced back to the earlier X-ray diffraction studies of Sir W. L. Bragg, the holographic method as we know it was invented by D. Gabor in 1948 as a two-step lensless imaging technique to enhance the resolution of electron microscopy, for which he received the 1971 Nobel Prize in physics. The distinctive feature of holography is the recording of the object phase va...