Plural channel optical memory with intensity modulation for discriminating among channels

Claim 1

A WORD-ORGANIZED MEMORY COMPRISING A SOURCE OF AN INPUT BEAM OF PLANE POLARIZED LIGHT, A MULTISTAGE DIGITAL LIGHT DEFLECTOR WHEREIN THE PATH OF LIGHT TRANSMITTED BY SAID DEFLECTOR IS DETERMINED RESPONSIVE TO THE CODED PRESENCE AND ABSENCE OF VOLTAGES ACROSS THE VARIOUS STAGES THEREIN, EACH OF SAID STAGES COMPRISING MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY ROTATING THE PLANE OF POLARIZATION OF SAID INPUT BEAM AND BIREFRINGENT MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING SAID INPUT BEAM ALONG DIFFERENT PATHS DEPENDING UPON THE PLANE OF POLARIZATION, SAID DEFLECTOR BEING ARRANGED IN THE OPTICAL PATH OF SAID BEAM AND HAVING INPUT AND OUTPUT ENDS, MEANS FOR DIVIDING THE LIGHT AT SAID OUTPUT END INTO A PLURALITY OF SPACED APART SECONDARY BEAMS EACH HAVING A FIRST DIRECTION FOR THE PLANE OF POLARIZATION THEREOF, A PLURALITY OF MEMORY MEDIA EACH POSITIONED IN THE PATH OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF SAID SECONDARY BEAMS AND INCLUDING THE PRESENCE AND ABSENCE OF OBSTRUCTIONS DEFINING ONE BIT OF EACH MEMORY WORD, MEANS FOR MODULATING THE INTENSITY OF EACH OF SAID SECONDARY BEAMS AT A DIFFERENT FREQUENCY CHARACTERISTIC FOR EACH OF SAID MEDIA IN A MANNER TO INSURE THAT SAID SECONDARY BEAMS ARE IN SAID FIRST DIRECTION WHEN THEY ARE REDIRECTED INTO SAID OUTPUT END OF SAID DEFLECTOR, REFLECTING MEANS IN THE PATH OF EACH OF SAID SECONDARY BEAMS FOR REDIRECTING THOSE OF SAID SECONDARY BEAMS PASSED THROUGH SAID MEMORY MEDIA BACK INTO SAID OUTPUT END OF SAID DEFLECTOR AT THE SAME POSITION AT WHICH THE LIGHT EXITED WHILE THE VOLTAGE CODE IS MAINTAINED, AND MEANS SEPARATING SAID INPUT BEAM FROM SAID SECONDARY BEAMS.