Petabytes on a crystal of a few millimeters: scientists have invented a new way to store data

American researchers have developed a way to store and read data from individual atoms embedded in tiny crystals several millimeters in size.

Scaling up this technology could soon pave the way for ultra-dense data storage systems capable of holding petabytes of information on a single drive. Thus, 1 petabyte is equivalent to about 5 thousand movies in 4K resolution.

Data coding in the form of ones and zeros became widespread from the very beginning of development of computer technology. But while earlier, media with electronic tubes, tiny electronic transistors, and CDs, whose surface depressions represented ones and smooth areas — zeros, were used for this purpose, scientists are now turning to quantum physics technologies.

In the new development, the researchers used an electron trapped by a defect in the crystal, which represents a unit, while the absence of an electron — represents zeroThus, scientists have combined solid-state physics with quantum-level data storage technologies.

The efficiency of the technology is ensured by emitting a laser with a certain amount of energy, which brings the electron into an excited state. At this point, the reading device registers the presence of light. The absence of light indicates the absence of a captured electron. This method works effectively only if the crystal has the appropriate defects, such as an oxygen vacancy and foreign impurities that turn the crystal into a semiconductor.

The researchers used rare earth metal ions as a alloying additives to the material to change its properties. The key was how to excite the electron with a rare-earth metal ion to retain it.

After that, it begins data reading. According to Frans, it is necessary to use another light source to free the electron from the defect, which leads to a redistribution of charges and ensures the emission of light. 

What challenges remain on the way to creating advanced storage devices

One of the key problems of the presented technology is that the data is erased when the information is read. According to Leonardo França, a partial solution to the problem is to reduce the amount of light, which helps limit data loss.

According to him, the information would disappear over time, just as data stored on tapes for 10-30 years disappears.

The researchers used the rare earth element praseodymium and yttrium oxide crystal. However, they could have just as easily used other crystals of rare earth elements with other non-alloying impurities. The advantage of rare earth elements is that they have known wavelengths in advance, which makes it possible to excite electrons using traditional lasers

The primary goal of the scientists was to use individual atoms embedded in crystals, but it remains unachieved. According to Leonardo France, the developers are currently on the right track.

The scientist emphasized that interest in further research is driven by the ability to scale the technology, which could eventually lead to the creation of inexpensive devices for storing data in large volumes. The good thing about this is that calculations using laser technology are well studied and not too expensive.

Scaling up the production of the corresponding crystals also promises to be economically feasible. This will save money on the purchase of rare earth elements and the development of ways to control defects in crystals. If the existing problems can be solved, the crystal can be created in the form of a disk.

According to his calculations, the available space is currently about 260 terabytes. The developer added that the density of defects can be easily increased This, of course, will lead to the possibility of storing petabytes of data on a single disk-sized device.

The article was published in the journal Nanophotonics

Source: LiveScience