New optical memory

5D nanostructured quartz glass optical memory could provide ‘unlimited’ data storage for a million years

"Superman memory crystal" recordings could survive the end of the human race

July 10, 2013

5D optical memory disc (credit: University of Southampton)

University of Southampton and Eindhoven University of Technology.scientists have developed a new technology that could store vast quantities of information — 360 TB on a disc, about 100 times more than current disk drives — for more than a million years [1].

‘Superman memory crystal’

Using a high speed femtosecond laser, data is written  on self-assembled nanostructures created in fused quartz, and stored in five dimensions: size and orientation in addition to the three-dimensional position on the nanostructured material.

Each disc has three layers [2] of nanostructured dots, with dots separated by five microns (one millionth of a meter) [3]. The self-assembled nanostructures change the way light travels through glass, modifying polarization of light that can then be read by combination of optical microscope and a polarizer, similar to that found in Polaroid sunglasses.[4]/.../