New density of memory: Image shows microscopic holes cut into the surface of glass with the 'nuclear-strength' laser. Researchers say that the technique could result in an amount of information comparable to that held by the U.S. Library of Congress written in a volume of just one cubic centimetre of material.
Credit: ANU
In nature, photonic crystals create the play of light in opals and on the scales of iridescent butterfly wings. Photonic crystals could change the way optical fibres direct and control light in telecommunications or broadband internet applications.
Physicist Graham Marshal from the Macquarie University node of CUDOS (Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems) said the research was "ground-breaking" and "very nice work."
He said that it brought sci-fi-like concepts such as holographic storage devices used in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey a step closer.
"DVDs and Blu-ray are currently simple two-layer devices. What these guys are saying is that it might be possible to record data in 3-D with the same kind of precision – or better – as is currently used in a Blu-ray disc, in a block of glass," said Marshal. "If you take data like that from a Blu-ray and stack it up in 3D, then you can store a lot more information in something much smaller than a sugar cube."
