Quartz memory discs - long -term archival storage of information instead of CD discs
The modern quartz disk will be able to store the terrabs of information forever.
You can use quartz glass as a unique carrier of information. Southampton scientists made this discovery back in the distant 2013. Due to its strength, physical characteristics and chemical inertia, it turned out to be an indispensable keeper of terabytes.
The disk from it calmly accommodates up to 360TB and has an unlimited life and storage. At the same time, he withstands the temperature up to a thousand degrees and can survive in any fire and fire. The disk is resistant to storage in conditions of high humidity and other extreme conditions.
Successfully managed to record and consider information from a 5-dimensional carrier in quartz glass. In the “memory crystals” made of the melted quartz, all information is recorded in 5 dimensions: these are the coordinates in the 3D spaceship, size and orientation. 2 The latest characteristics are regulated due to the intensity of the laser beam.
How is the recording?
During a scientific experiment, a 300kbyt text file was entered into the crystal. A file was recorded using a femtosecond laser with a wavelength of 1 030nm, with pulses each 8 mkja 280 femtesexeconds with a frequency of 200 kHz. The process took place with the help of layer -by -layer burning in it points at a distance of 5 mkm from each other in the thickness of 140 mkm deep into it.
When recording on a quartz disk, the data falls multi -layered: not just on the surface of the disk, as on CD and DVD, but for the thickness of the volume. Therefore, each ray puts several data cells. The authors call this technology a multi -level volume memory. The points scorched by the laser will be able to change the optical parameters of the crystal and the polarization of the light bundle passing through it.
Information can be detected using a strong optical microscope. During the initial study, scientists used the Olympus BX 51 Olympus.
Application area
The scope of such a keeper of information can be quite extensive. Harshes of this type will be in demand by those organizations that will work with large volumes of information. The disk will be derived, so you can save on it photo and video archives, favorite films and series. This will be an indispensable keeper of information for archives and libraries, video studios.
Compared with the now common CDs, quartz glass can store information of an unlimited amount of time. While the coating begins to fall off with pieces from CDs after a couple of years of use, and the base may begin to darken.
At a temperature of 190 degrees, the viability period of the nanostructured quartz glass is calculated by several billion years. All the information posted on the disk remains integral until the carrier itself remains directly integral. That is, information can only be destroyed by a directed mechanical action - for example, with a hammer blow.
It should be noted that the discs on other materials resistant to external influences are developed in parallel. For example, developments on sapphire are known. Information on the sapphire disk can be stored for tens of thousands of years. This material also withstands temperatures up to 2,000 degrees and is resistant to aggressive environments and hardness.
Superman crystal in Russia
The above project is part of a more global Femtoprint program, which is allocated by the European Union. In addition to this project, similar developments were made at the Mendeleev chemical and technological University.
The 1-terminal disc created using this technology has already been presented in May 2016 by Russian scientists. About 500 films of high quality records fit on it. That is, the entire archive of the State Film Fund can be fitted on 150 discs. When demonstrating their invention, scientists showed a disc 3 mm with a diameter of 4 mm.
The quartz disc in the colloquial has already received the name "Superman Crystal" thanks to its similarity to "memory crystals" mentioned in this film.