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Volume Holographic Data Storage Systems (HDSS) has been of interest for almost seven decades, and are now considered as a viable option for Write Once Read Many (WORM) cold data storage applications. Thanks to the Bragg selectivity of thick volume holograms, HDSS stores several hundreds of holograms on top of each other, called multiplexed data pages, by which data recording density can be substantially increased compared to surface recordings. On the other hand, signal intensity upon reconstruction of such multiplexed data pages inversely scales with number of multiplexing squared. Therefore, longer detection time and/or a high power laser along with a large dynamic range material is needed to make HDSS a truly viable "fast and high density" option for WORM applications. Historically, the trade-off between data density and data rate is well recognized. The challenge has been partially solved by continuous efforts such as improvement of materials, optical architectures, opto-mechanical systems and signal processing [1,2]. In this dissertation, we provide an additional pathway for HDSS to further increase both data density and transfer rates which is Cavities Enhancement Techniques for HDSS, to overcome the fundamental tradeoff. Key ideas are: recycling light with cavity to enhance data rate, and increasing number of multiplexing by combining cavity-eigenmode multiplexing, a subset of orthogonal phasecode multiplexing, with angular multiplexing. Based on this idea, we design and demonstrate Cavity-enhanced HDSS in such a way that we increase data rate and/or data density by at least factor of 2 while taking advantage of previous improvements as they are, or only with the minimum amount of modifications. In Section 1, we review history of HDSS and summarize the latest research results of HDSS and requirements on modern optical data storage systems as they relate to our solutions. In Section 2, theory of volume holography is reviewed by emphasizing understanding of angular and orthogonal phase code multiplexing. In Section 3 the theory of cavity enhanced reference arms is presented. We discuss how cavities provide a coherent boost to the beam power, which can be used in recording to alleviate source power requirements and/or increase the data recording rate and demonstrate the enhancement experimentally. Beyond basic enhancement, cavities also enable orthogonal phase code multiplexing via cavity eigenmodes. In Section 4, we experimentally demonstrate angular and orthogonal phase code hybrid multiplexing to overcome the limitation of the maximum number of multiplexing imposed by the geometrical constraints of angular multiplexing. In Section 5, novel aspects of the research are discussed in conjunction with the application of the technology for commercial use. Conclusions and future research direction are addressed in Section 6.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Stefan H. Bossmann / The photochromic spirodihydroindolizine/betaine (DHI/B) system has been reinvestigated applying picosecond, microsecond, stationary absorption measurements, and NMR-kinetics. The first surprise was that the electronic structure of the betaines is quite different than commonly assumed. The photochemical ring-opening of DHIs to betaines is a conrotatory 1,5 electrocyclic reaction, as picosecond absorption spectroscopy confirms. The (disrotatory) thermal ring-closing occurs from the cisoid betaine. The lifetime of the transoid betaine is 60 s at 300 K, whereas the lifetime of the cisoid isomer is of the order of 250 microseconds. According to these results, the electrocyclic back reaction of the betaines to the DHI is NOT rate determining, as previously thought, but the cisoid-transoid-isomerization of the betaine. Although the presence of a second nitrogen atom increases the photostability of the spirodihydroindolizine-pyridazine/betaine-system remarkably, the photochemical reaction mechanism appears to be exactly the same for spirodihydroindolizine-pyridazine/betaine-system. A nondestructive photoswitch or an information recording systems has been explored using styryl-quinolyldihydroindolizines. Both isomers DHI and betaine are fluorescent. When the blue betaine is stabilized in a thin polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix, it is stable for several hours even in room temperature and very stable at 77K. Although irradiation of visible light = 532 nm allows the photo-induced reaction of the Betaine back to the DHI, a nondestructive read-out can be performed at λ = 645 nm upon excitation with λ = 580 nm. Image recording (write) and read-out, as well as information storage (at 77K) have been demonstrated. Charged and maleimide-functionalized DHI/B systems have beed synthesized for use as photochemical gates of the mycobacterial channel porin MspA. Positively charged and maleimide functionalized DHI groups that were attached to the DHI/B-system permit the binding of the photoswitch to selective positions in the channel proteins due to the presence of a cysteine moiety. An inexpensive new method for the large scale synthesis of coelenterazine is developed. A modified Negishi coupling reaction is used to make pyrazine intermediates from aminopyrazine as an economical starting material. This method permits the use of up to 1g coelenterazine per kg body weight and day, which turns the renilla transfected stem cells into powerful light sources.

Previously, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated enhanced recording speeds by using a resonant optical cavity to semi-passively increase the reference beam power while recording image bearing holograms. In addition to enhancing the reference beam power the cavity supports the orthogonal reference beam families of its eigenmodes, which can be used as a degree of freedom to multiplex data pages and increase storage densities for volume Holographic Data Storage Systems (HDSS). While keeping the increased recording speed of a cavity enhanced reference arm, image bearing holograms are multiplexed by orthogonal phase code multiplexing via Hermite-Gaussian eigenmodes in a Fe: LiNbO3 medium with a 532 nm laser at two Bragg angles for expedited recording of four multiplexed holograms. We experimentally confirmed write rates are enhanced by an average factor of 1.1, and page crosstalk is about 2.5%. This hybrid multiplexing opens up a pathway to increase storage density while minimizing modifications to current angular multiplexing HDSS.

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Three-dimensional (3D) optical data storage based on two-photon processes provides highly confined excitation in a recording medium and a mechanism for writing and reading data with less cross talk between multiple memory layers, due to the quadratic dependence of two photon absorption (2PA) on the incident light intensity. The capacity for highly confined excitation and intrinsic 3D resolution affords immense information storage capacity (up to 1012 bits/cm3). Recently, the use of photochromic materials for 3D memory has received intense interest because of several major advantages over current optical systems, including their erasable/rewritable capability, high resolution, and high sensitivity. This work demonstrates a novel two-photon 3D optical storage system based on the modulation of the fluorescence emission of a highly efficient two-photon absorbing fluorescent dye (fluorene derivative) and a photochromic compound (diarylethene). The feasibility of using efficient intermolecular Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (RET) from the non-covalently linked two-photon absorbing fluorescent fluorene derivative to the photochromic diarylethene as a novel read-out method in a two-photon optical data storage system was explored. For the purpose of the development of this novel two-photon 3D optical storage system, linear and two-photon spectroscopic characterization of commercial diarylethenes in solution and in a polymer film and evidence of their cyclization (O→C) and cycloreversion (C→O) reactions induced by two-photon excitation were undertaken. For the development of a readout method, Resonance Energy Transfer (RET) from twophoton absorbing fluorene derivatives to photochromic compounds was investigated under one and two-photon excitation. The Förster's distances and critical acceptor concentrations were determined for non-bound donor-acceptor pairs in homogeneous molecular ensembles. To the best of my knowledge, modulation of the two-photon fluorescence emission of a dye by a photochromic diarylethene has not been reported as a mechanism to read the recorded information in a 3D optical data storage system. This system was demonstrated to be highly stable and suitable for recording data in thick storage media. The proposed RET-based readout method proved to be non-destructive (exhibiting a loss of the initial fluorescence emission less than 20% of the initial emission after 10,000 readout cycles). Potential application of this system in a rewritable-erasable optical data storage system was proved. As part of the strategy for the development of diarylethenes optimized for 3D optical data storage, derivatives containing Ï€-conjugated fluorene molecules were synthesized and characterized. The final part of this reasearch demonstrated the photostability of fluorine derivatives showing strong molecular polarizability and high fluorescence quantum yields. These compounds are quite promising for application in RET-based two-photon 3D optical data storage. Hence, the photostability of these fluorene derivatives is a key parameter to establish, and facilitates their full utility in critical applications.

Two-photon absorption (2PA) has been used for a number of scientific and technological applications, exploiting the fact that the 2PA probability is directly proportional to the square of the incident light intensity (while one-photon absorption bears a linear relation to the incident light intensity). This intrinsic property of 2PA leads to 3D spatial localization, important in fields such as optical data storage, fluorescence microscopy, and 3D microfabrication. The spatial confinement that 2PA enables has been used to induce photochemical and photophysical events in increasingly smaller volumes and allowed nonlinear, 2PA-based, technologies to reach sub-diffraction limit resolutions. The primary focus of this dissertation is the development of novel, efficient 2PA, fluorene-based molecules to be used either as photoacid generators (PAGs) or fluorophores. A second aim is to develop more effective methods of synthesizing these compounds. As a third and final objective, the new molecules were used to develop a write-once-read many (WORM) optical data storage system, and stimulated emission depletion probes for bioimaging. In Chapter I, the microwave-assisted synthesis of triarylsulfonium salt photoacid generators (PAGs) from their diphenyliodonium counterparts is reported. The microwave-assisted synthesis of these novel sulfonium salts afforded reaction times 90 to 420 times faster than conventional thermal conditions, with photoacid quantum yields of new sulfonium PAGs ranging from 0.01 to 0.4. These PAGs were used to develop a fluorescence readout-based, nonlinear three-dimensional (3D) optical data storage system (Chapter II). In this system, writing was achieved by acid generation upon two-photon absorption (2PA) of a PAG (at 710 or 730 nm). Readout was then performed by interrogating two-photon absorbing dyes, after protonation, at 860 nm. Two-photon recording and readout of voxels was demonstrated in five and eight consecutive, crosstalk-free layers within a polymer matrix, generating a data storage capacity of up to 1.8 x 1013 bits/cm3. The possibility of using these PAGs in microfabrication is described in Chapter III, where two-photon induced cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP) crosslinking of an SU8 resin is employed to produce free-standing microstructures. Chapter IV describes the investigation of one- and two-photon stimulated emission transitions by the fluorescence quenching of a sulfonyl-containing fluorene compound in solution at room temperate using a picosecond pump-probe technique. The nature of stimulated transitions under various fluorescence excitation and quenching conditions were analyzed theoretically, and good agreement with experimental data was demonstrated. Two-photon stimulated transitions S1 to S0 were shown at 1064 nm. The two-photon stimulated emission cross section of the sulfonyl fluorophore was estimated as aproximately 240 - 280 GM, making this compound a good candidate for use in two-photon stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy.

This Thesis describes the systematic theoretical study aimed at prediction of the essential properties for the functional organic molecules that belong to diarylethene (DA) family of compounds. Diarylethenes present the distinct ability to change color under the influence of light, known as photochromism. This change is due to ultrafast chemical transition from open to closed ring isomers (photocyclization). It can be used for optical data storage, photoswitching, and other photonic applications. In this work we apply Density Functional Theory methods to predict 6 of the related properties: (i) molecular geometry; (ii) resonant wavelength; (iii) thermal stability; (iv) fatigue resistance; (v) quantum yield and (vi) nanoscale organization of the material. In order to study sensitivity at diode laser wavelengths, we optimized geometry and calculated vertical absorption spectra for a benchmark set of 28 diarylethenes. Bond length alternation (BLA) parameters and maximum absorption wavelengths (λmax) are compared to the data presently available from X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy experiments. We conclude that TD-M05/6-31G*/PCM//M05-2X/6-31G*/PCM level of theory gives the best agreement for both the parameters. For our predictions the root mean square deviation (RMSD) are below 0.014 Å for the BLAs and 25 nm for λmax. The polarization functions in the basis set and solvent effects are both important for this agreement. Next we consider thermal stability. Our results suggest that UB3LYP and UM05-2X functionals predict the activation barrier for the cycloreversion reaction within 3-4 kcal/mol from experimental value for a set of 7 photochromic compounds. We also study thermal fatigue, defined as the rate of undesirable photochemical side reactions. In order to predict the kinetics of photochemical fatigue, we investigate the mechanism of by-product formation. It has been established experimentally that the by-product is formed from the closed isomer; however the mechanism was not known. We found that the thermal by-product pathway involves the bicyclohexane (BCH) ring formation as a stable intermediate, while the photochemical by-product formation pathway may involve the methylcyclopentene diradical (MCPD) intermediate. At UM05-2X/6-31G* level, the calculated barrier between the closed form and the BCH intermediate is 51.2 kcal/mol and the barrier between the BCH intermediate and the by-product 16.2 kcal/mol. Next we investigate two theoretical approaches to the prediction of quantum yield (QY) for a set of 14 diarylethene derivatives at the validated M05-2X/6-31G* theory level. These include population of ground-state conformers and location of the pericycylic minimum on the potential energy surface 2-A state. Finally, we investigate the possibility of nanoscale organization of the photochromic material based on DNA template, as an alternative to the amorphous polymer matrix. Here we demonstrate that Molecular Dynamic methods are capable to describe the intercalation of π-conjugated systems between DNA base pairs and accurately reproduced the available photophysical properties of these nanocomposites. In summary, our results are in good agreement with the experimental data for the benchmark set of molecules we conclude that Density Functional Theory methods could be successfully used as an important component of material design strategy in prediction of accurate molecular geometry, absorption spectra, thermal stability of isomers, fatigue resistance, quantum yield of photocyclization and photophysical properties of nanocomposites.

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