Recent studies at Bell Labs show that holographic storage of digital data is possible.  Right now Lucent Technology and Imation Corp. are starting a joint effort to develop holographic disks.  This would dramatically increase the storage capacity of a disk and allow massive amounts of data to be easily transported.
    The disks we use today only allow for storage on the surface of the material.  Holographic data storage would make it possible to store data over the entire volume of the disk and thus increase storage density.  Another advantage would be that instead of reading the disk one bit at a time, the disk would be read in "pages," that is an entire surface at a time.  This would allow the disk to be read in sections of 1 million bits.
    It is predicted that the first holographic disks will be able to store 125 gigabytes of data on a single 5.25 inch disk, 27 times that of the current 4.7 gigabyte DVD and a far greater capacity than the average PC.  Also, since the disk will be read in "pages," it will have a transfer rate about 25 times faster than a DVD.   It is also predicted that once there has been time to refine the disks, researchers will be able to store about a terabyte and will have developed a transfer speed 125 time faster than a current DVD.
    So how far are we from mastering this new technology?  Well nobody knows for sure, but Steve Socolof, Lucent New Ventures Group Vice President, says "We plan to push this opportunity forward as quickly as possible."

A proud worker shows off a finished CD
courtesy of disctronics

This Is A Student Website

Last Edited On May 14, 2000