Abstract: A focused ion beam (FIB) apparatus is used to record analog (i.e. continuous) and/or digital (i.e. discrete) images or data within a medium, which is then recoverable by exposing this storage medium to a light source and observing the light reflected, transmitted, and/or diffracted by the medium from a specified reception point relative to the source light and the medium surface. Changes in the optical properties of the medium surface can be achieved in a controllable and predictable way over spatial regions as small as the tightest focus of a FIB in one or several of the following ways (In the following list, “structure” is defined as a polished, solid surface to which has been added either none, one, or several optical thin films of materials which differ from the adjacent materials): 1) Changes in structure optical properties due to implantation into a substrate. 2) Changes in structure optical properties due to implantation into and milling of a substrate.

Abstract: A focused ion beam (FIB) apparatus is used to record analog (i.e. continuous) and/or digital (i.e. discrete) images or data within a medium, which is then recoverable by exposing this storage medium to a light source and observing the light reflected, transmitted, and/or diffracted by the medium from a specified reception point relative to the source light and the medium surface.