White light processing technique for archival storage of color films.

The method of archival storage of color films utilizing a spatial color encoding process and a white light color image retrieval technique is described. This archival technique offers several advantages as compared with all the other existing archival techniques: It employs a white light source for the encoding and decoding processes, so that the coherent artifact noise can be avoided. Since the technique does not utilize a slit aperture and a narrow spatial filter, the reproduced color image causes no marginal loss in resolution. The storage volume by this technique is also reduced to one-third of that needed with the traditional technique. This technique offers the advantage of direct viewing, which may be important for library applications. We also stress that this archival storage technique is simple and economical to implement. A simple experimental demonstration is also presented.