a data recording and retrieval system wherein a beam of coherent radiation is optically formed into an intense spot and deflected by first and second deflecting means to impinge upon a storage medium . the beam is spot - focused by a lens system which includes a multiple lens array , and selectively deflected by a pair of mirrors through a particular lenslet of the multiple - lens array to one of a plurality of storage fields of the recording medium . when the storage field is selected , a second deflection system produces a randomly selectable x - y deflection of the beam , within the area of the preselected storage field . the multiple lens array provides a plurality of lenslets , each lenslet of the array corresponding with a different one of the plurality of storage fields within a storage area of the recording medium . also included are means for illuminating a selected one of the areas of the storage medium and detector means for sensing data recorded on the selected storage field projected through a corresonding lenslet of the multiple lens array to the detector means .