  We investigate the potential of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates as dynamic
memory devices for coherent optical information processing. Specifically, the
number of ultraslow pulses that can be simultaneously present within the
storage time in the condensate has been analyzed. By modeling short-pulse
propagation through the condensate, taking into account high-order dispersive
properties, constraints on the information storage capacity are discussed. The
roles of temperature, spatial inhomogeneity, the interatomic interactions, and
the coupling laser on the pulse shape are pointed out. For a restricted set of
parameters, it has been found that coherent optical information storage
capacity would be optimized.
