Researchers create DVDs with massive storage

[Shadows]

Wed May 20, 2009 1:05pm EDT
LONDON - "Five-dimensional" discs with a capacity 10,000 times greater than current DVDs could be on the market within 10 years, researchers reported on Wednesday.

A team from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia said that by harnessing nanoparticles and a "polarization" dimension to existing technology, storage can be massively boosted without changing the size of a current disc.

The researchers, who have signed a deal with Samsung Electronics, said the technique had allowed them to store 1.6 terabytes of data on a disc with the potential to one day store up to 10 terabytes.

One terabyte would be enough to hold 300 feature length films or 250,000 songs.

"We were able to show how nanostructured material can be incorporated onto a disc in order to increase data capacity, without increasing the physical size of the disc," Min Gu, who worked on the research, said in a statement.

"These extra dimensions are the key to creating ultra-high capacity discs."

Discs currently have three spatial dimensions but using nanoparticles the researchers said they were able to introduce a spectral -- or color -- dimension as well as a polarization dimension.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Nature, created the color dimension by inserting gold nanorods -- which form so-called surface plasmons when hit by light -- onto a disc's surface.

Because nanoparticles react to light according to their shape, this allowed the researchers to record information in a range of different color wavelengths on the same place on the disc.

Current DVDs are recorded in a single color wavelength using a laser, the researchers said.

The researchers also created an extra dimension using polarization, a technique in which they projected light waves onto the disc, to record different layers of information at different angles.

"The polarization can be rotated 360 degrees," another member of the research team James Chon, said in a statement.

"So for example, we were able to record at zero degree polarization. Then on top of that we were able to record another layer of information at 90 degrees polarization, without them interfering with each other."

Some issues, such as the speed at which the discs can be written on, need further work but the scientists said their research could have immediate applications in a range of fields.

For instance, they could help store extremely large medical files such as MRIs as well as financial, military and security areas by offering higher data densities needed for encryption, they added.

[tadz0rz]

Interesting. A replacment for the blueray.

You rekon it would still be called a 'DVD' though?

[Bandit]

It is still a digital versatile disc, so why not...

[ofey]

I applied to Professor Min Gu for a job when I first got to Melbourne and was rejected. He's an outstanding scientist and his work is very practical. The concept is well thought out. By changing polarization angles, you are able to store alot more since you "get more surface" to code on.

What news reports don't tell you is the potential problems. Imagine if this was deployed on our MMCS, the bumps in the road and any small vibration could throw the reader off its angle. In certain applications this can be used i.e. data storage where the reader is always on a flat surface and doesn't quite move about. The question also of recording/read speed should also come to mind. It is a proof of concept - between that and commercialization will take awhile yet.

[Bandit]

How do they make a polarising laser? I thought lasers were made using crystals?? Or is it the internals of the disc that are polarised?

[ofey]

How do they make a polarising laser? I thought lasers were made using crystals?? Or is it the internals of the disc that are polarised?

Without getting too technical, lasers are a stimulated emission (radiation) through a gas.

The crystal concept I think you're referring to is the lens or in the case of the mythical light saber where a crystal changes the color of the saber. We're still not quite at that stage yet.

Currently lasers are generated through a gas laser concept where an electric current is discharged through a gas to produce light. The type of gas present determines the color of the light.

Polarization is a property of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations. You can change the orientation of these oscillations by placing a filter or lens thus changing the polarization of the emitted laser. A well known application is in photography (speak to Tenchi), I'm sure he uses polarizing lenses to change the way the picture appears.

[Ozie]

Angles!!!
so this concept works by continually changing the angle of the lens??

[ofey]

Angles!!!
so this concept works by continually changing the angle of the lens??

The concept require 2 things to change i.e. the type of disc (new disc altogether) and also the laser's polarization. The angle at which the laser is projected will also be varied.

However as I said, the problem is stability, you can't knock the set about, you might get read errors considering how dense the packing is and how the slightest knock about will cause the laser's projection to change.

[Ozie]

Ok thanks ofey.

[jacob1bc]

this is pretty cool. when ever it does come on the market it will be very expensive. give it a year of being on the market and the price will go down. and that's when i will buy it.

[tadz0rz]

Although this is a good idea, i honesly see this as kinda pointless to have nearly 10tb on a single disk. Hard disk, yes. but portable media, im not so fond of.

The more the merrier in my opinion but...i dunno, it almost seems like a waste...I cant really word it. I really cant see someone needing 10TB on a single disk and for the need to move it around all the time.

Id put it at 1tb max. And thats a pants load of space in my oppinion.

[Mizta B]

It's a fascinating concept
It will be interesting to view it's progress over the coming years!

[jamez707]

but having all that space is the point. we are starting to get to a stage in our technological evolution where limitations in our past are no longer relevant in this case storage capacity. its a similar thing with graphic design and game development that has started to be discussed over the last year. they talk about graphics being so good that it wont be a contending factor in your purchase anymore same with storage if we all have more than enough space then why have different options to choose from. but then again it is in human nature to want more and im sure we will come up with something to fill all that space.........porn?