Lithium niobate hologram readout using continuous incoherent noise erasing light

Claim 1

IN A READOUT SYSTEM FOR A VOLUME HOLGRAM INCLUDING A VOLUME HOLOGRAM RECORDING MEDIUM COMPRISING A GIVEN CRYSTAL OF FE-DOPED LINBO3 WHICH HAS A VOLUME HOLOGRAM OF A GIVEN SCENE RECORDED THEREIN, MEANS FOR ILLUMINATING SAID CRYSTAL WITH A READOUT INPUT BEAM OF COHERENT WAVE ENERGE OF SAID GEIVE WAVELENGTH TO DRIVE FROM SAID RECORDED VOLUME HOLOGRAM THEREIN A READOUT IMAGE BEAM OF COHERENT WAVE ENERGY OF SAID GIVEN WAVELENGTH WHICH RECONSTRUCTS AN IMAGE OF SAID GIVEN SCENE, AND VIEWING MEANS IN COOPERATIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID READOUT IMAGE BEAM FOR VIEING SAID RECONSTRUCTED IMAGE OF AID GIVEN SCENE, WHEREIN SAID GIVEN CRYSTAL EXHIBITS A RESPONSE TO THE CUMULATIVE ILLUMINATION THEREOF BY SAID READOUT INPUT BEAM WHICH RESULTS IN SUPURIOUS COMULATIVE RECORDINGS WITHIN SAID CRYSTAL AND EXHIBITS A RESPONSE TO THE CUMOLATIVE ILLUMINATION THEREOF BY GIVEN BROAD-BAND INCOHERENT WAVE ENERGY WHICH RESULTS IN CUMULATIVE ERASING OF SAID SPURIOUS RECORDINGS WITHIN SAID CRYSTAL, THE IMPROVEMENT THEREWITH COMPRISING: A. A SOURCE OF SAID GIVEN BROAD-BAND INCOHERENT WAVE ENERGY FOR ILLUMINATING SAID GIVEN CRYSTAL THEREWITH WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY SAID GIVEN CRYSTAL IS BEING ILLUMINATED WITH SAID READOUT INPUT BEAM OF COHERENT WAVE ENERGY OF SAID GIVEN WAVELENGTH, AND B. WHEREIN SAID VIEWING MEANS INCLUDES A NARROW-BAND FILTER LOCATED IN THE PATH OF SAID READOUT IMAGE BEAM FOR PASSING WAVE ENERGY INCIDENT THEREON HAVING SAID GIVEN WAVELENGTH AND SUBSTANTIALLY BLOCKING OUT SAID GIVEN INCOHERENT WAVE ENERGY INCIDENT THEREON.

Claim 5

A method for preventing optical damage from occurring in a given crystal of Fe-doped LiNbO3 during readout of a volume hologram recorded in a volume hologram recording medium comprising said given crystal with a readout input beam of coherent wave energy of a given wavelength, said method comprising the steps of: a. illuminating said given crystal with broadband wave energy while simultaneously said given crystal is being illuminated by said readout input beam, and b. filtering the readout image beam derived by said given crystal to pass wave energy of said given wavelength but substantially block out said broadband incoherent wave energy.

Claim 6

A method for preventing optical damage from occurring in a given crystal of Fe-doped LiNbO3 during readout of a volume hologram recorded in a volume hologram recording medium comprising said given crystal with a readout input beam of coherent wave energy of a given wavelength, said method comprising the steps of: a. illuminating said given crystal with broadband wave energy while simultaneously said given crystal is being illuminated by said readout input beam, and b. filtering the readout image beam derived by said given crystal to pass wave energy of said given wavelength but substantially block out said broadband incoherent wave energy.