Scientists from China are presently engaged on an optical disc that might retailer as much as 200 terabytes of knowledge within the dimension of a DVD, as reported by IEEE Spectrum.

This is made potential by storing knowledge in three dimensions as a substitute of simply two. The scientists have developed a option to retailer the info on 100 layers of the disc. Even extra could possibly be potential sooner or later.

1.6 million gigabits on the dimensions of a DVD disc

The process has already been investigated up to now. However, a serious impediment to earlier analysis was that the optics used to learn and write the info have been restricted to the dimensions of the wavelengths of sunshine they utilized. In the brand new technique, the info is recorded in dots simply 54 nanometers broad – which corresponds to round a tenth of the wavelength of seen mild used for studying and writing.

A variant the dimensions of a DVD would subsequently present round 1.6 million gigabits (200 terabytes) of knowledge capability. This corresponds to 4000 occasions the info density of a Blu-ray disc or 21 occasions that of essentially the most fashionable laborious drives.

“This will enable the use of ultra-high density optical data storage technology in large data centers,” says Min Gu, Professor of Optical and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Shanghai Science and Technology University.

The researchers consider that their new optical disc might make it potential to shrink an information centre with a capability of 1 billion gigabits, which might in any other case require the dimensions of a stadium, right down to the dimensions of a room.

Search for appropriate materials took 10 years

The researchers used totally different laser pairs to learn and write knowledge.

The disc itself is product of a brand new kind of light-sensitive materials known as AIE-DDPR, which is ready to react otherwise to totally different wavelengths of sunshine. “The search for this type of material took 10 years”, says Gu. “The difficulty was how the writing and reading processes influence each other in a particular material – especially in a three-dimensional geometry.”

The knowledge was written in layers that have been every one micrometer aside. It was discovered that the writing high quality remained comparable throughout all layers, which stunned the researchers themselves: “I was personally surprised that both writing and reading processes on a nanoscale worked well in our newly invented material”, says Gu.

Good prospects for the medium

The researchers presently wish to concentrate on its use in knowledge facilities. But along with the potential space of utility in knowledge facilities, scientists have additionally decided that the manufacturing of the blanks is appropriate with the already recognized DVD mass manufacturing and may be accomplished in simply 6 minutes. The discs could subsequently even be appropriate for the business finish buyer market.

The Chinese scientists are presently engaged on methods to enhance the writing velocity and power consumption of the brand new technique. They revealed their outcomes in the journal Nature on February 21, 2024.

This article was translated from German to English and initially appeared on pcwelt.de.