5D Optical Storage: High-Speed Laser Writing Could Pack 500 Terabytes Into CD-Sized Glass Disc

[Grim Reaper 6]

Researchers have developed a fast and energy-efficient laser-writing method for producing high-density nanostructures in silica glass. These tiny structures can be used for long-term five-dimensional (5D) optical data storage that is more than 10,000 times denser than Blue-Ray optical disc storage technology. 

In Optica, Optica Publishing Group’s journal for high-impact research, Lei and colleagues describe their new method for writing data that encompasses two optical dimensions plus three spatial dimensions. The new approach can write at speeds of 1,000,000 voxels per second, which is equivalent to recording about 230 kilobytes of data (more than 100 pages of text) per second.

“The physical mechanism we use is generic,” said Lei. “Thus, we anticipate that this energy-efficient writing method could also be used for fast nanostructuring in transparent materials for applications in 3D integrated optics and microfluidics.”

5D Optical Storage: High-Speed Laser Writing Could Pack 500 Terabytes Into CD-Sized Glass Disc (scitechdaily.com)