Holographic Data Storage Technology Debuts
The threat of being invited over to view a friend’s digital home movies just got much, much worse. InPhase Technologies (Longmont, Colo.) has just (April 18) demonstrated a prototype of the first commercially viable mass data storage system based on holography at the annual National Association of Broadcasters meeting. The prototype is a preview of a commercial version of a holographic drive, expected in 2006, that will hold 300 gigabytes (GB) – the equivalent of more than 35 hours of broadcast-quality high-definition video – on a single disk. By contrast, a pre-recorded DVD movie disk today holds no more than about 8.5GB of data or about 4 hours of MPG-2 video.
Instead of home movies, however, the holographic drives initially will target users who need to archive vast quantities of digital data: the television and movie industries; medical records; and scientific data such as satellite imagery, oil and gas exploration data, and similar applications.
InPhase engineers have achieved data densities of up to 200 gigabits per square inch, significantly denser than any existing optical recording format. The company uses a novel holography technique to store data throughout the volume of the recording media, rather than just on the surface like conventional CDs and DVDs. The technology – is being developed with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Advanced Technology Program.
InPhase combined a patented optical recording material with a new recording method and improvements in laser optics. The system stores approximately a million bits of information simultaneously in a single “page” that looks like a checkerboard of dark and light spots. Laser holography allows multiple pages to be stored in the same location in the 1.5-mm thick recording material by changing the angle or frequency of the reference laser beam – 252 “pages” can be stored in a single “book”, and up to 15 books can be overlaid in one location.
Data transfer rates also improve – the company has demonstrated rates up to 27 megabytes per second. InPhase plans to release a range of holographic storage drives ranging up to 1.6 terabytes by 2009. Further details are available at www.inphase-tech.com.