We realized optical data storage in a human fingernail. A structural change is recorded by irradiating a focused femtosecond laser pulse and is read out with fluorescent observation by making use of an increased fluorescence intensity. The shape of the structural changes drastically depends on the irradiated pulse energy. The fluorescence spectrum of the structure coincided with the auto-fluorescence spectra of a fingernail and a heated fingernail. It is suggested that the increased fluorescence is most likely caused by a local denaturation of the keratin protein by the femtosecond laser pulse irradiation. We demonstrate that the increased fluorescence effect is useful for reading out three-dimensionally recorded data.

© 2005 Optical Society of America

1. D. Du, X. Liu, G. Korn, and G. Mourou, �??Laser-induced breakdown by impact ionization in SiO2 with pulse widths from 7 ns to 150fs,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 3071-3073 (1994). [CrossRef]
2. H. Kumagai, K. Midorikawa, K. Toyoda, S. Nakamura, T. Okamoto, and M. Obara, �??Ablation of polymer films by a femtosecond high-peak-power Ti:sapphire laser at 798 nm,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 65, 1850-1852 (1994). [CrossRef]
3. K. M. Davis, K. Miura, N. Sugimoto, and K. Hirao, �??Writing waveguides in glass with a femtosecond laser,�?? Opt. Lett. 21, 1729-1731 (1996). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
4. E. N. Glezer, M. Milosavljevic, L. Huang, R. J. Finlay, T.-H. Her, J. P. Callan, and E. Mazur, �??Three-dimensional optical storage inside transparent materials,�?? Opt. Lett. 21, 2023-2025 (1996). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
5. E. N. Glezer and E. Mazur, �??Ultrafast-laser driven micro-explosions in transparent materials,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 882-884 (1997). [CrossRef]
6. Y. Kondo, T. Suzuki, H. Inouye, K. Miura, T. Mitsuyu, and K. Hirao, �??Three-dimensional microscopic crystallization in photosenseitive glass by femtosecond laser pulses at nonresonant wavelength,�?? Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 37, 94-95 (1998). [CrossRef]
7. M. Watanabe, H. -B. Sun, S. Juodkazis, T. Takahashi, S. Matsuo, Y. Suzuki, J. Nishii, and H. Misawa, �??Three-dimensional optical data storage in vitreous silica,�?? Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 37, 1527-1530 (1998). [CrossRef]
8. W. Watanabe, T. Toma, K. Yamada, J. Nishii, K. Hayashi, and K. Itoh, �??Optical seizing and merging of voids in silica glass with infrared femtosecond laser pulses,�?? Opt. Lett. 25, 1669-1671 (2000). [CrossRef]
9. F. Korte, S. Adams, A. Egbert, C. Fallnich, A. Ostendorf, S. Nolte, M. Will, and J.-P. Ruske, B. N. Chichkov, and A. Tünnermann, �??Sub-diffraction limited structuring of solid targets with femtosecond laser pulses,�?? Opt. Express 7, 41-49 (2002), <a href="http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-7-2-41.">http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-7-2-41.</a> [CrossRef]
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13. J. H. Strickler and W. W. Webb, �??Three-dimensional optical data storage in refractive media by two-photon point excitation,�?? Opt. Lett. 16, 1780-1782 (1991). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
14. Y. Kawata, H. Ueki, Y. Hashimoto, and S. Kawata, �??Three-dimensional optical memory with a photorefractive crystal,�?? Appl. Opt. 34, 4105-4110 (1995). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
15. M. M. Wang, S. C. Esener, F. B. McCormick, I. Cogör, A. S. Dvornikov, and P. M. Rentzepis, �??Experimental characterization of a two-photon memory,�?? Opt. Lett. 22, 558-560 (1997). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
16. A. Takita, M. Watanabe, H. Yamamoto, S. Matsuo, H. Misawa, Y. Hayasaki, and N. Nishida, �??Optical bit recording in a human fingernail,�?? Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 43, 168-171 (2004), <a href="http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/43/168/.">http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/43/168/.</a> [CrossRef]
17. Y. Hayasaki, H. Takagi, A. Takita, H. Yamamoto, N. Nishida, and H. Misawa, �??Processing structures on human fingernail surface by a focused near-infrared femtosecond laser pulse,�?? Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 43, 8089-8093 (2004), <a href="http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/43/8089/.">http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/43/8089/.</a> [CrossRef]

Appl. Opt.

• Y. Kawata, H. Ueki, Y. Hashimoto, and S. Kawata, �??Three-dimensional optical memory with a photorefractive crystal,�?? Appl. Opt. 34, 4105-4110 (1995). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Appl. Phys. Lett.

• J. D. Mills, P. G. Kazansky, E. Bricchi, and J. J. Baumberg, �??Embedded anisotropic microreflectors by femtosecond-laser nanomachining,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 196-198 (2002). [CrossRef]
• D. Du, X. Liu, G. Korn, and G. Mourou, �??Laser-induced breakdown by impact ionization in SiO2 with pulse widths from 7 ns to 150fs,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 3071-3073 (1994). [CrossRef]
• H. Kumagai, K. Midorikawa, K. Toyoda, S. Nakamura, T. Okamoto, and M. Obara, �??Ablation of polymer films by a femtosecond high-peak-power Ti:sapphire laser at 798 nm,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 65, 1850-1852 (1994). [CrossRef]
• E. N. Glezer and E. Mazur, �??Ultrafast-laser driven micro-explosions in transparent materials,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 882-884 (1997). [CrossRef]

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

• Y. Kondo, T. Suzuki, H. Inouye, K. Miura, T. Mitsuyu, and K. Hirao, �??Three-dimensional microscopic crystallization in photosenseitive glass by femtosecond laser pulses at nonresonant wavelength,�?? Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 37, 94-95 (1998). [CrossRef]
• M. Watanabe, H. -B. Sun, S. Juodkazis, T. Takahashi, S. Matsuo, Y. Suzuki, J. Nishii, and H. Misawa, �??Three-dimensional optical data storage in vitreous silica,�?? Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 37, 1527-1530 (1998). [CrossRef]
• A. Takita, M. Watanabe, H. Yamamoto, S. Matsuo, H. Misawa, Y. Hayasaki, and N. Nishida, �??Optical bit recording in a human fingernail,�?? Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 43, 168-171 (2004), <a href="http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/43/168/.">http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/43/168/.</a> [CrossRef]
• Y. Hayasaki, H. Takagi, A. Takita, H. Yamamoto, N. Nishida, and H. Misawa, �??Processing structures on human fingernail surface by a focused near-infrared femtosecond laser pulse,�?? Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 43, 8089-8093 (2004), <a href="http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/43/8089/.">http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/43/8089/.</a> [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

• F. Korte, S. Adams, A. Egbert, C. Fallnich, A. Ostendorf, S. Nolte, M. Will, and J.-P. Ruske, B. N. Chichkov, and A. Tünnermann, �??Sub-diffraction limited structuring of solid targets with femtosecond laser pulses,�?? Opt. Express 7, 41-49 (2002), <a href="http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-7-2-41.">http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-7-2-41.</a> [CrossRef]
• W. Watanabe, D. Kuroda, K. Itoh, and J. Nishii, �??Fabrication of Fresnel zone plate embedded in silica glass by femtosecond laser pulses,�?? Opt. Express 10, 978-983 (2002), <a href="http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-10-19-978.">http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-10-19-978.</a> [PubMed]

Opt. Lett.

• M. M. Wang, S. C. Esener, F. B. McCormick, I. Cogör, A. S. Dvornikov, and P. M. Rentzepis, �??Experimental characterization of a two-photon memory,�?? Opt. Lett. 22, 558-560 (1997). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• W. Watanabe, T. Toma, K. Yamada, J. Nishii, K. Hayashi, and K. Itoh, �??Optical seizing and merging of voids in silica glass with infrared femtosecond laser pulses,�?? Opt. Lett. 25, 1669-1671 (2000). [CrossRef]
• K. M. Davis, K. Miura, N. Sugimoto, and K. Hirao, �??Writing waveguides in glass with a femtosecond laser,�?? Opt. Lett. 21, 1729-1731 (1996). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• E. N. Glezer, M. Milosavljevic, L. Huang, R. J. Finlay, T.-H. Her, J. P. Callan, and E. Mazur, �??Three-dimensional optical storage inside transparent materials,�?? Opt. Lett. 21, 2023-2025 (1996). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• J. H. Strickler and W. W. Webb, �??Three-dimensional optical data storage in refractive media by two-photon point excitation,�?? Opt. Lett. 16, 1780-1782 (1991). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Science

• D. A. Parthenopoulos and P. M. Rentzepis, �??Three-dimensional optical storage memory,�?? Science 245, 843-845 (1989). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

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