Method and apparatus for holographically recording and reproducing images in a sequential manner

A tape cartridge (12) is provided for storing holographic recordings in a longitudinal holographic storage media tape (14). The tape (14) is comprised of a thin holographic storage media such as a photopolymer. A laser (54) is operable to generate a coherent light beam, which is then positioned on a given row of storage regions (42) on the surface of the tape (14). A positioning/angle multiplexing device (90) is operable to both position a reference beam (60) and a data beam (62) onto a select one of the storage regions in a given row on the surface of the tape (14). The tape (14) is incremented a row at a time for each scan operation wherein both the reference and the data beams during a Write operation, and only the reference beam during the playback operation, are moved along a given row. The spinning polygon mirror (56) is utilized to provide both positioning along a given row and angle multiplexing in a select storage region, with the optic system removing the angular information from the data beam (62). Data is superimposed on the data beam by an SLM (76).