A surface micromachined suspended interferometer and an atomic force microscope (AFM) are incorporated into a novel optical reading technique. The AFM tip mechanically deflects the suspended membrane as it scans past a data bit on the membrane surface. The data are read by monitoring the changing interference pattern generated in the optical aperture of the interferometer. When operated in parallel, there exists the potential for high speed, high density data reading. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.