Tech Briefs Magazine - June 2021 - 46

Optics
High-Capacity Optical Data Storage Disk
Using gold nanomaterials, this disk can hold data securely for more than 600 years.
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
esearchers have used gold nanomaterials
to demonstrate a next-generation
optical disk with up to 10 TB capacity
- a storage leap of 400 percent -
and a six-century lifespan. The technology
could radically improve the energy
efficiency of data centers by using 1,000
times less power than a hard disk center.
It requires far less cooling and eliminates
the energy-intensive task of data
migration every two years. Optical disks
are also inherently far more secure than
hard disks.
The world is shifting from Big Data
towards Long Data, which enables new
insights to be discovered through the
mining of massive datasets that capture
changes in the real world over decades
R
and centuries. The new technology
could expand horizons for research by
helping to advance the rise of Long Data.
The novel technique combines gold
nanomaterials with a hybrid glass material
that has outstanding mechanical
strength. The researchers demonstrated
optical long data memory in a novel
nanoplasmonic hybrid glass matrix, different
to the conventional materials
used in optical discs. Glass is a highly
durable material that can last up to
1,000 years and can be used to hold
data, but has limited storage capacity
because of its inflexibility.
The team combined glass with an
organic material, halving its lifespan but
radically increasing capacity. To create
the nanoplasmonic hybrid glass matrix,
gold nanorods were incorporated into a
hybrid glass composite known as organic
modified ceramic.
Gold was chosen because like glass, it
is robust and highly durable. Gold
nanoparticles allow information to be
recorded in five dimensions - the three
dimensions in space, plus color and
polarization.
The technique relies on a sol-gel
process, which uses chemical precursors
to produce ceramics and glasses with
better purity and homogeneity than conventional
processes.
For more information, contact Gosia
Kaszubska at gosia.kaszubska@rmit.edu.au;
+61 3 9925 3176.
Quantum-Dot Infrared Cameras for Electronics and
Self-Driving Cars
The inexpensive cameras are easy to produce.
University of Chicago, Illinois
nfrared cameras can pick up light
emitted as plants photosynthesize, as
cool stars burn, and as batteries get hot.
They can also see through smoke, fog,
and plastic. But infrared cameras are
much more expensive than visible-light
cameras; the energy of infrared light is
smaller than visible light, making it
harder to capture.
I
A new method could lead to much
more cost-effective infrared cameras,
which in turn could enable infrared
cameras for common consumer electronics
like phones as well as sensors to
help autonomous cars see their surroundings
more accurately.
Today's infrared cameras are made by
successively laying down multiple layers
of semiconductors - a complicated and
error-prone process that makes them
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Tech Briefs Magazine - June 2021

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