The rapidly increasing demand for data storage capacity is not going to change anytime soon (thanks to AI!).
Thankfully, new research is exploring innovative ways to cram more bytes into the same physical space on optical disks.
This approach is based on the same light-based optical data storage (ODS) approach used to burn DVDs, but is unique in that it works in three dimensions. This means there are hundreds of layers instead of one, resulting in a significant increase in capacity.
According to the research team, we're talking about petabits on a single disk. This equates to 1,000 trillion bits, or about 1 million standard definition movies on something the size of a DVD. Stack them up and you reach the realm of exabits (one million trillion or quintillion bits).
“This technology allows us to achieve exabit-level storage by stacking nanoscale disks into arrays, which is essential in large data centers where space is at a premium,” the researchers said. wrote in their published paper.
The new approach comes with a new storage medium called AIE-DDPR (official name is aggregation-induced luminescent dye-doped photoresist). A thin film that allows data to be written at ultra-high resolution.
This breakthrough is made possible partly by a combination of light patterns shining on the surface, partly dyes within the film, and partly molecules within the film that capture and react with light.
It is hoped that new technologies will help overcome some of the limitations associated with the way large amounts of digital information are currently stored. Our thirst for data is certainly not helping our efforts to better take care of the planet we live on.
“Data centers based on major storage technologies such as semiconductor flash devices and hard disk drives have high energy loads, high operating costs, and short lifetimes,” the researchers wrote.
It is important to note that there are still some important challenges to resolve. The technology will need to be faster and more energy efficient before it can become a reality, but researchers already have some ideas on how to make this happen.
The potential benefits of successfully developing new approaches to data storage are clear. Data centers occupy significantly less space, have lower maintenance costs, and consume less energy during operation.
“While current ODS capacity needs to be increased to fully meet data center demands, increasing the areal density of optical media remains a challenge,” the researchers wrote.
This study Nature.