a, Dual-beam configuration for super-resolution writing and reading. b, Spin coating process for material addition, material diffusion and blank disc casting. c, The capacity of a single nanoscale 3D disc is approximately equivalent to that of a petabit-level Blu-ray library or an HDD data array. Credit: Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06980-y
A team of photonics engineers affiliated with several Chinese institutions has developed a new type of optical DVD capable of holding up to a petabyte of data. The group used a new material to cover the DVDs and new laser techniques to write the data. The results are published in Nature.
The type of DVD currently used to hold movies and data has a capacity of 4.5 GB, enough to store about two hours of video. The data is written using a laser to etch a series of zeros and ones onto its surface. In this new effort, the Chinese team has found a way to store significantly more data on a DVD using an entirely new approach.
Their new method involves storing data in 3D rather than in a single layer. The team found that it was capable of storing data on a single disk with up to 100 layers. To create multiple layers on a disc, the team developed a special coating and then a way to engrave the individual layers using special light patterns and a dye in the coating allowing engraving at scale. nanoparticles. This allowed them to store data at an unprecedented level.
The research team acknowledges that there are still some challenges to overcome before their DVDs can be released commercially. Currently, the process of writing data to disk is far too slow and consumes a lot of power – problems that the team believes can be fixed. Additionally, it is not yet clear how much it would cost to make such DVDs or how much consumers might have to pay.
Nonetheless, the research team is optimistic that they are on the right track and hope to sell DVDs capable of storing huge amounts of data, not only to consumers, but also to data storage facilities, businesses and to media companies seeking to improve data quality. their products.
More information:
Miao Zhao et al, A nanoscale 3D optical disk memory with petabit capacity, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06980-y
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