Rewritable optical disk drive also reads CDROMs

Last November, Panasonic Communications & Systems Co. (Secaucus, NJ) introduced an optical disk drive that allows users to both write to a rewritable optical disk and read conventional CDROM (compactdisk readonly memory) disks. The new device contains two innovations: three holographic optical elements (HOEs) that reduce the size, weight, and complexity of the optical head and a nonmagnetooptical disk that records data when illuminated by a lowpower laser diode.