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Let me just re-assure you for a second. This article title is most definitely not a typo. Researchers at the Centre for Micro-Photonics at Swinburne University Austria have had a breakthrough in developing what can only be described as a colossal sized DVD. Specifically, ones that could hold 1 Quadrillion bytes of data. Now I can’t even begin to comprehend the amount of noughts and commas that even is.
In essence, their 5 year project budgeted at a cost of close to $1 million aims to make use of nano particles in order to expand current DVD dimensions. I’m sorry but NANO particles? Isn’t that like supposed to be particles on a molecular level? Anyways, led by Professor Min Gu and funded by the Australian Research Council, they aim to do this by essentially increasing the number of layers on a DVD. This currently stands at a (meagre) 4 layers, yet the team has demonstrated that this can be increased to a further 52 layers.
The next part is just way over and above me so read the extract from the original article if you wish to know the details of dimension altering nanoparticles:
The group, led by Professor Min Gu, is considering a range of technologies but is currently looking at a multi-dimensional system that keeps the architecture of the current CD-DVD drive but can break through the terabyte limit.
The project is looking at how nanotechnology can enable data to be stored in two further dimensions. The first is a spectral or colour dimension, which involves differently shaped nanoparticles being inserted on a disc to allow information to be recorded in a range of colour wavelengths on the same physical location.
The second is the use of polarisation. By altering the direction of the incoming light wave, and the electric field within, different nanoparticles will be aligned to allow storage of more data.
Now the implications of this I don’t think would be aimed at archiving materials or the backing up of supercomputers due to certain characteristics such as eventual oxidisation and other environmental damage. Rather that if this kind of technology was commercialised, we could see corporations such as MGM distributing every James Bond film in 1080p (or whatever the next standard in HD is) of James Bond on a single disc. Rather than pack your shelves with bloated box sets from your favourite TV series i.e. all ten seasons of friends, plus behind the scenes footages, blooper reels, and then some, you could fit it all onto one single (and precious) supersized disc.
Either way, it makes for some rather interesting thinking when it comes to the future of data storage.
Source: News.com.au
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