This paper presents a patent pending approach to store digital data using high bandwidth laser light in motion. Data will be stored in a loop. The higher the data rate, and the longer the storage loop, the more data can be stored. We plan to use : (i) highly multiplexed optical communications to maximize data rate, and (ii) a long light path, to maximize length of time it takes light to traverse the full storage loop. Lyteloop is developing data storage in motion in 4 domains : fiber, space, and two forms of near vacuum cavities. Three of those domains are in a free space near vacuum. Multiplexing will be done across very wide wavelength ranges, and many spatial modes will be used. OEM modes will be used in free space at the shorter wavelengths, and spatial division multiplexing (SDM) in fibers. Multiple cores will be used in fibers A 1.5 Gigabyte demonstation data storage unit has been built in fiber. This démonstration unit, and its performance, is described. Lyteloop will build on, and advance, both free space, and fiber, high data rate communications technology as a method of storing data in motion. We will also describe two patent pending methods to extend path length in free space applications. One approach we call angle multiplexing, and the other uses highly reflective interior surfaces. Less complex, and lower power, signal regeneration will be highly beneficial to achieve Lytelops’s goals.

Date Published: 1 February 2019
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 10947, Next-Generation Optical Communication: Components, Sub-Systems, and Systems VIII, 109470E (1 February 2019); doi: 10.1117/12.2515327

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10947:
Next-Generation Optical Communication: Components, Sub-Systems, and Systems VIII
Guifang Li; Xiang Zhou, Editor(s)