ABSTRACT
As a molecular device bacteriorhodopsin (BR) offers three interesting light driven functions: as a proton pump, as a charge separator, and as a photochromic material. For the field of molecular electronics and photonics two functions of BR are of high interest, its light driven charge separation and its photochromism. This chapter focuses mainly on photochromism. It gives a brief description of the structure and function of BR and the generation of mutants with new properties. The chapter discusses the applications of BR and its mutants as optical processor molecules in spatial light modulation, logical operations, holographic recording, real time pattern recognition, and Erase Direct Read After Write storage. Finally, it summarizes the wide range of properties that are obtained with BR and its mutants, which span from molecules for fast processing in the picosecond time regime to ones for permanent storage.
