A system and method to spectrally store data in a spectrally addressable hole-burning material (16), such as an Eu (Europium)-doped YSO (Yttrium Silicate) crystal. The digital data to be spectrally stored is first converted into an RF (radio frequency) form by modulating the data using multiple RF frequencies, with each RF frequency carrying one of the data bits. The RF-encoded data is then optically modulated by an electro-optic modulator (12) using one or more laser frequencies as carriers. The optically modulated output is sent to a beam router (14) that projects the output onto a predetermined location or spot on the storage material. The hole-burning material (16) is shaped as an array of waveguides to combat light diffraction and maintain high spatial storage density. The stored data is read using a high speed detector (18) along with a bank of RF filters (20). The use of laser tuning together with parallel RF modulation allows access to the full inhomogeneous spectrum of the hole-burning material (16) storing the data. The addressing of the data storage locations is massless, i.e., it does not involve any moving parts.
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