Optical discs coated in nanometre-scale particles of gold could be on the market within a decade, each holding the equivalent of around 340 DVD movies.
The new optical disc format - known as 5D DVD - is under development by researchers at Melbourne Australia's Swinburne University of Technology. Along with the data storage techniques used by traditional optical disc formats, 5D DVD uses gold nanorods to record information using different wavelengths on the same location on the disc. It also uses polarization to record layers of data on top of each other.
In their paper, published in the journal Nature, the researchers were able to record three layers of information, using three different wavelengths and two polarizations. Since publication, the authors have recorded 10 layers, and they believe it is possible to record 100 layers onto a single disc. The technique theoretically can reach storage levels of up to 10 terabytes per disc.
Even though the technology requires gold, the cost of a single disc is only a few cents.
"The optical system to record and read 5D is very similar to the current DVD system," says paper co-author Dr James Chon. "Therefore the industrial scale production of the compact system is possible."
