Methods for making holographic data storage articles

Abstract

A method of making a holographic data storage medium is provided. The method comprises: (a) providing an optically transparent substrate comprising at least one photochemically active dye; and (b) irradiating the optically transparent substrate at at least one wavelength at which the optically transparent substrate has an absorbance in a range from about 0.1 to 1, to produce a modified optically transparent substrate comprising at least one optically readable datum and at least one photo-product of the photochemically active dye. The at least one wavelength is in a range from about 300 nanometers to about 800 nanometers. The optically transparent substrate is at least 100 micrometers thick, and comprises the photochemically active dye in an amount corresponding to from about 0.1 to about 10 weight percent based on a total weight of the optically transparent substrate.

1 . A method of making a holographic data storage medium, said method comprising: 
 (a) providing an optically transparent substrate comprising at least one photochemically active dye; and    (b) irradiating the optically transparent substrate at at least one wavelength at which the optically transparent substrate has an absorbance in a range from about 0.1 to 1, said at least one wavelength being in a range from about 300 nanometers to about 800 nanometers, to produce a modified optically transparent substrate comprising at least one optically readable datum and at least one photo-product of the photochemically active dye,    wherein the optically transparent substrate is at least 100 micrometers thick, and comprises the photochemically active dye in an amount corresponding to from about 0.1 to about 10 weight percent based on a total weight of the optically transparent substrate.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one optically readable datum comprises at least one volume element having a refractive index which is different from a corresponding volume element of the optically transparent substrate, said volume element being characterized by a change in refractive index relative to the refractive index of the corresponding volume element prior to irradiation.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data storage medium has a data storage capacity, as measured by M/# of greater than 0.5.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one photo-product is patterned within the modified optically transparent substrate to provide the at least one optically readable datum.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one photochemically active dye comprises a vicinal diarylethene.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one photochemically active dye comprises a nitrone.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one photochemically active dye comprises a nitrostilbene.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one photochemically active dye comprises a photo-product derived from a vicinal diarylethene.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the vicinal diarylethene has the structure (I)  
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       wherein “e” is 0 or 1; R 1  is a bond, an oxygen atom, a substituted nitrogen atom, a sulfur atom, a selenium atom, a divalent C 1 -C 20  aliphatic radical, a halogenated divalent C 1 -C 20  aliphatic radical, a divalent C 3 -C 20  cycloaliphatic radical, a halogenated divalent C 1 -C 20  cycloaliphatic radical, or a divalent C 2 -C 30  aromatic radical; Ar 1  and Ar 2  are each independently a C 2 -C 40  aromatic radical, or a C 2 -C 40  heteroaromatic radical; and Z 1  and Z 2  are independently a bond, a hydrogen atom, a monovalent C 1 -C 20  aliphatic radical, divalent C 1 -C 20  aliphatic radical, a monovalent C 3 -C 20  cycloaliphatic radical, a divalent C 3 -C 20  cycloaliphatic radical, a monovalent C 2 -C 30  aromatic radical, or a divalent C 2 -C 30  aromatic radical.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the nitrone comprises an aryl nitrone having a structure (IX):  
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       wherein Ar 3  is an aromatic radical, each of R 11 , R 12 , and R 13  is a hydrogen atom, an aliphatic radical, a cycloaliphatic radical, or an aromatic radical; R 14  is an aliphatic radical or an aromatic radical, and “n” is an integer having a value of from 0 to 4.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein R 14  comprises at least one electron withdrawing substituent selected from the group consisting of  
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       wherein R 15 -R 17  are independently a C 1 -C 10  aliphatic radical, a C 3 -C 10  cycloaliphatic radical, or a C 2 -C 10  aromatic radical.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one photochemically active dye is selected from the group consisting of 4-dimethylamino-2′,4′-dinitrostilbene, 4-dimethylamino-4′-cyano-2′-nitrostilbene, 4-hydroxy-2′,4′-dinitrostilbene, 4-methoxy-2′,4′-dinitrostilbene, α-(4-diethylaminophenyl)-N-phenylnitrone; α-(4-diethylaminophenyl)-N-(4-chlorophenyl)-nitrone, α-(4-diethylaminophenyl)-N-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-nitrone, α-(4-diethylaminophenyl)-N-(4-carbethoxyphenyl)-nitrone, α-(4-diethylaminophenyl)-N-(4-acetylphenyl)-nitrone, α-(4-dimethylaminophenyl)-N-(4-cyanophenyl)-nitrone, α-(4-methoxyphenyl)-N-(4-cyanophenyl)nitrone, α-(9-julolidinyl)-N-phenylnitrone, α-(9julolidinyl)-N-(4-chlorophenyl)nitrone, α-(4-Dimethylamino)styryl-N-phenyl Nitrone, α-Styryl-N-phenyl nitrone, α-[2-(1,1-diphenylethenyl)]-N-phenylnitrone, α-[2-(1-phenylpropenyl)]-N-phenylnitrone, and 1,2-bis{2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-5-methylthien-4-yl}-3,3,4,4,5,5-hexafluorocyclopent-1-ene.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the optically transparent substrate comprises a thermoplastic polymer, a thermosetting polymer, or a combination of a thermoplastic polymer and a thermosetting polymer.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyacrylates, polymethacrylates, polyesters, polyolefins, polycarbonates, polystyrenes, polyesters, polyamides, polyamideimides, polyarylates, polyarylsulfones, polyethersulfones, polyphenylene sulfides, polysulfones, polyimides, polyetherimides, polyetherketones, polyether etherketones, polyether ketone ketones, polysiloxanes, polyurethanes, polyethers, polyarylene ethers, polyether amides, polyether esters, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing thermoplastic polymers.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the thermosetting polymer is selected from the group consisting of an epoxy thermosetting polymer, a phenolic thermosetting polymer, a polysiloxane thermosetting polymer, a polyester thermosetting polymer, a polyurethane thermosetting polymer, a polyamide thermosetting polymer, a polyacrylate thermosetting polymer, a polymethacrylate thermosetting polymer, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing thermosetting polymers.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the thermoplastic polymer comprises a polycarbonate comprising structural units derived from bisphenol A.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one photo-product comprises a photo-decomposition product of the at least one photochemically active dye.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one photo-product comprises a molecular rearrangement product of the at least one photochemically active dye.  
     
     
         19 . An optical writing and reading method, comprising: 
 irradiating a holographic data storage medium with a signal beam possessing data and a reference beam simultaneously to partly convert the photochemically active dye into at least one photo-product and store the data in the signal beam as a hologram in the holographic data storage medium; the holographic storage medium comprising an optically transparent substrate and at least one photochemically active dye; the optically transparent substrate having a thickness of at least 100 micrometers, and comprising the photochemically active dye in an amount corresponding to from about 0.1 to about 10 weight percent based on a total weight of the optically transparent substrate, and having a UV-visible absorbance in a range from about 0.1 to 1 at at least one wavelength in a range from about 300 nanometers to about 800 nanometers; and    irradiating the holographic storage medium with a read beam and reading the data contained by diffracted light from the hologram.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the the read beam has a wavelength that is shifted by 0 nanometers to about 400 nanometers from the signal beam's wavelength.  
     
     
         21 . A method for using a holographic data storage article, the method comprising the steps of: 
 irradiating a holographic data storage medium in the holographic data storage article with electromagnetic energy having a first wavelength, the holographic data storage medium comprising an optically transparent substrate that is at least 100 micrometers thick and comprises at least one photochemically active dye in an amount corresponding to from about 0.1 to about 10 weight percent based on a total weight of the optically transparent substrate, said irradiating being done at at least one wavelength at which the optically transparent substrate has an absorbance in a range from about 0.1 to 1, and said at least one wavelength being in a range from about 300 nanometers to about 800 nanometers;    forming a modified optically transparent substrate comprising at least one photo-product of the at least one photochemically active dye, and at least one optically readable datum stored as a hologram; and    irradiating the holographic data storage medium in the article with electromagnetic energy having a second wavelength to read the hologram.    
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the second wavelength is shifted by 0 nanometer to about 400 nanometers from the first wavelength.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the first wavelength is not the same as the second wavelength.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the first wavelength is the same as the second wavelength.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein said at least one photo-product comprises a vicinal diarylethene, a photo-product derived from the vicinal diarylethene, an oxaziridine, or a decomposition product derived from the oxaziridine.  
     
     
         26 . A method of manufacturing a holographic data storage medium, the method comprising: 
 forming a film of an optically transparent substrate comprising at least one optically transparent plastic material, and at least one photochemically active dye, wherein the optically transparent substrate is at least 100 micrometers thick; and comprises the photochemically active dye in an amount corresponding to from about 0.1 to about 10 weight percent based on a total weight of the optically transparent substrate, and has a UV-visible absorbance in a range from about 0.1 to 1 at at least one wavelength in a range from about 300 nanometers to about 800 nanometers.    
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the film of the optically transparent substrate is formed by a molding technique.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the film of the optically transparent substrate is formed by a spin casting technique.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the at least one optically transparent plastic material comprises a thermoplastic polymer, a thermosetting polymer, or a combination of a thermoplastic polymer and a thermosetting polymer.  
     
     
         30 . A holographic data storage medium comprising: 
 an optically transparent substrate comprising at least one optically transparent plastic material, at least one photochemically active dye, and at least one photo-product thereof;    said optically transparent substrate being at least 100 micrometers thick, said photochemically active dye being present in the optically transparent substrate in an amount corresponding to from about 0.1 to about 10 weight percent based on a total weight of the optically transparent substrate, said optically transparent substrate having a UV-visible absorbance in a range from about 0.1 to 1 at at least one wavelength in a range from about 300 nanometers to about 800 nanometers; and said at least one photo-product being patterned within the optically transparent substrate to provide at least one optically readable datum comprised within the holographic storage medium.    
     
     
         31 . The holographic data storage medium of  claim 30 , wherein the at least one photo-product results from a photochemical conversion of the at least one photochemically active dye during the storage of data as a hologram.