The upshot is that, until magnetic bits can no longer be shrunk and multilayer optical discs reach their limits, any new technology has to have all the good features of current data storage techniques and be better. A bunch of Aussies think they might have hit the sweet spot with a new multilayer optical storage medium that has the potential to store data at around 1.1Tb/cm3. A standard DVD clocks in at 51MB in a square centimeter in each of its layers.
At heart, the new medium looks rather like the old optical medium, consisting of multiple layers where data can be stored. However, instead of using a dye or a pit-island approach, the layers are filled with gold nanorods. The electrons in the nanorods will only respond strongly to an incident light if it has the right color and the electric field of the illuminating light lines up with the axis of the nanorod. When this occurs, the nanorod scatters light everywhere, glows like crazy, and heats up.
If hit with a sufficiently powerful laser, the rod will melt and change its shape, which also changes the color of the light it responds to. It is this step—exceeding the critical power density required to melt the nanorods—that is at the heart of this research.
Blu-Ray, watch out!... (maybe)
-GT-
