| tart --> | | | | were used to record the information, the light is |
| All data storage in modern times are done on disc, be | | | | refracted in a way that the other wave is |
| it a computer hard drive or a CD-R disc. Blu-ray and | | | | reconstructed. These gratings can be stacked or |
| HD-DVD have upped the ante when it comes to the | | | | superimposed in the same thick piece of media, as |
| amount of data that you can hold on a disc, but at | | | | long as there is a distinguishing spacing or direction, |
| some time they will eventually become obsolete. | | | | allowing the stacked bits of data to be accessed |
| Right now our data storage needs are currently met, | | | | independently. In addition to larger storage capabilities, |
| but as the amount of data available continues to rise, | | | | holographic storage also boasts to accelerate data |
| storage technology must evolve with it. The next | | | | transfer rates to about one billion bits per second and |
| generation of storage technology is going to be | | | | reduce access times to just tens of microseconds. |
| holographic data storage. It sounds pretty futuristic, | | | | The benefits |
| what is holographic storage? | | | | 1. Larger storage capacity - Some companies are |
| With CD-R and DVD-R technology, data is stored on | | | | developing a technology that enables the storage of |
| the surface of the disc as distinct magnetic or optical | | | | between 100GB and 1TB of data. Compare this to |
| changes. With holographic data storage, an entire | | | | Blu-ray and HD-DVD, which max out at 50GB. |
| page of information is stored at once as an optical | | | | Amazing leap in the amount of data you can store |
| interference pattern within a thick, photosensitive | | | | on one piece of media. |
| optical material. | | | | 2. Accelerated data transfer - The holographic data |
| How do they do this? | | | | storage medium in the works boasts data |
| This is done by intersecting two coherent laser | | | | transmission speeds of 100Mbps to 1Gbps. The new |
| beams, the object and reference beams, within the | | | | HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs clock in at 36.55Mbps, |
| storage material. The object beam contains all the | | | | which is only a fraction of the holographic data |
| information needing to be stored, while the reference | | | | storage transfer rate. |
| beam is designed to be simple to produce. The | | | | Well, if you're like me, you learned quite a bit about a |
| resulting interference between the beams causes | | | | new technology from this short article. This new |
| chemical and/or physical changes in the | | | | technology is quite a ways off from being accessible |
| photosensitive medium that the data is being stored | | | | to the common consumer, but some companies are |
| on. Basically "burning" the information to the storage | | | | in the process of developing holographic data storage |
| medium, this mark is called the grating. When the | | | | for the corporate sector. Technology is a strange |
| grating is illuminated by one of the two waves that | | | | beast, always changing, always mutating. |