An optical recording medium includes a plurality of information signal layers. The plurality of information signal layers include a recording layer having a first surface that faces a light irradiation surface and a second surface on the side opposite to the first surface, a first dielectric layer that is provided on the side of the first surface, and a second dielectric layer that is provided on the side of the second surface. The second dielectric layer provided in the information signal layer positioned on the innermost side when viewed from the light irradiation surface contains indium oxide and tin oxide. The recording layer provided in the information signal layer positioned on the innermost side when viewed from the light irradiation surface contains an oxide of a metal MA, an oxide of a metal MB, an oxide of a metal MD, and an oxide of a metal ME, the metal MA is at least one selected from the group consisting of Mn and Ni, the metal MB is at least one selected from the group consisting of W, Mo, Zr and Ta, the metal MD is at least one selected from the group consisting of Cu and Ag, the metal ME is Nb, the contents of the metal MA, the metal MB and the metal ME satisfy the relationship of 0.30≤a.sub.1/(b.sub.1+e.sub.1)≤0.41 (where, a.sub.1: atomic ratio [atomic %] of the metal MA with respect to a total amount of the metal MA, the metal MB, the metal MD and the metal ME, b.sub.1: atomic ratio [atomic %] of the metal MB with respect to a total amount of the metal MA, the metal MB, the metal MD and the metal ME, and e.sub.1: atomic ratio [atomic %] of the metal ME with respect to a total amount of the metal MA, the metal MB, the metal MD and the metal ME), and the atomic ratio e.sub.1 of the metal ME with respect to a total amount of the metal MA, the metal MB, the metal MD and the metal ME is 5 atomic % or more and 18 atomic % or less.

An optical information storage medium includes a substrate and a multilayer polymeric film. The multilayer polymeric film has a first surface and an opposite second surface that extend the length of the multilayer polymeric film. The second surface is adhered to a surface of the substrate. The multilayer polymeric film includes a plurality of coextruded alternating polymeric active data storage layers and polymeric buffer layers.

An optical encoder is provided. The encoder includes an optical disc mounted on a shaft, the optical disc containing pit and land markings; an optical pickup unit for an optical disc that receives light from the optical disc and supplies as an output an electrical signal representative of the received light, comprising: a reading head objective lens, and dynamic steering actuators that control the focus and tracking of the reading head objective lens; a processor that receives as an input the electrical signal from the optical pickup unit and reports motion of the substrate based on the received at least one electrical signal.

According to a positioning method for a hologram in a disk-type holographic storage medium, a guide groove is formed in advance in the disk-type storage medium and is scribed with a positioning marker that includes index information, position information and crossing angle information. The positions of a positioning laser beam and a recording/reproducing laser beam are applied to the same medium position. When an optical head accesses a recording/reading position at a high speed, the shift multiplex recording/reading is performed starting from a marker position. A servo system controls the laser beams to move along the guide groove and ensures that a focused beam is focused on the medium. According to the method, the position and angular information can be quickly positioned in process of performing cross-shift multiplex recording/reading, the recording/reading speed of the system is improved, and random access is achieved.

A method for reading and writing with holographic system includes the following operations: (a) providing a reference light and a signal light; (b) transferring the reference light and the signal light to an optical recording medium, for recording an interference grating; (c) changing the reference light and the signal light and repeating the operations (a) to (b) until M interference gratings are recorded on the optical recording medium; (d) providing a reading light to the optical recording medium, for reading the M interference gratings at the same time to generate an interference result, wherein the interference result is a result that diffraction signals of the M interference gratings interfere to each other; and (e) changing the reading light and repeating the operation (d), for obtaining N interference results. A holographic storage system is also disclosed herein.

An optical disc device capable of detecting a reference position of an optical disc in a rotating direction includes an optical disc rotation drive unit, an optical sensor, and a control circuit. The optical disc rotation drive unit rotates the optical disc provided with a rotation reference mark. The rotation reference mark is formed into a shape having a width changing in the radial direction of the optical disc. The optical sensor detects the rotation reference mark. The control circuit controls the optical disc rotation drive unit and the optical sensor, extracts a detection signal of the rotation reference mark as a pulse waveform from an output signal of the optical sensor with the optical disc being rotated, and specifies a rotation reference position of the optical disc in accordance with the pulse waveform.

The present invention is for more optimally performing recording and reproduction of stereoscopic video. In the present invention, parallax information is utilized to store, in a recording medium, stereoscopic video including left-eye images and right-eye images. Particularly, for video content that contains stereoscopic images, information is obtained regarding the amount of variation in parallactic angle having a given or larger value, a variation time that the variation in parallactic angle takes, and the number of times that the variation in parallactic angle occurs. An evaluation value is calculated that corresponds to the degree of eye fatigue on the basis of the amount of variation, the variation time, and the number of times of the variation. According to the present invention, the video content is encoded in such a manner that the evaluation value is within a given range, and then recorded in the recording medium.

An optical encoder is provided. The encoder includes an optical disc mounted on a shaft, the optical disc containing pit and land markings; an optical pickup unit for an optical disc that receives light from the optical disc and supplies as an output an electrical signal representative of the received light, comprising: a reading head objective lens, and dynamic steering actuators that control the focus and tracking of the reading head objective lens; a processor that receives as an input the electrical signal from the optical pickup unit and reports motion of the substrate based on the received at least one electrical signal.

An improved optical encoder uses an optical pick-up unit that provides for degrees of freedom in the tracking and focus axes that are unavailable in conventional optical encoders thereby improving the encoders' performance. In an embodiment the encoder employs an optical disc marked with pits and lands which may be arranged in a spiral pattern. The optical disc is mounted on the shaft whose motion is to be monitored by the optical encoder. The encoder may be arranged to read the markings on the optical disc using the three-beam pickup method.

Systems and methods for long-term non-volatile non-rotating optical storage of digital information rely on storage elements that include optical storage media, an access subsystem configured to access bits of information from one of the storage elements, and a support structure configured to support multiple storage elements. A laser used to retrieve and/or record bits of digital information may be moved along two orthogonal dimensions while the storage element is non-rotating.