Scientific Instruments Co, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
*A.F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, RAS, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
**Institute of Physics, Vilnius, Lithuania

    The holographic recording is compared with the conventional photographic recording and different holographic media are classified. The recording mechanisms of various volume holographic recording media are analyzed. These volume holographic media include photorefractive crystals, photopolymers including dichromated gelatin, photorefractive media composed of liquid crystals, as well as different photopolymerizing compositions.