GE Global Research, the technology R&D arm of General Electric, has successfully demonstrated a micro-holographic material that can support data recording at the same speed as Blu-ray discs. This result builds upon the April 2009 demonstration of a threshold micro-holographic storage material that can support 500 gigabytes of storage capacity in a standard DVD-size disc, thus matching the capacity of 20 single-layer Blu-ray discs, 100 DVDs or the hard drive of most laptop computers.

Whereas DVDs and Blu-ray discs store information only on up to four layers at the surface of the disc, holographic storage technology uses the entire volume of the disc material. Holograms, or three-dimensional patterns that represent bits of information, are written into the disc at controlled depths, and can then be read out.

GE has been working on holographic storage technology for over eight years. Ultimately, the team is working toward micro-holographic discs that can store more than one terabyte, or 1,000 gigabytes of data.

With higher recording speeds required in the professional
archival industry, the company believes this latest breakthrough will advance its interests in commercializing GE’s micro-holographic technology in this market space.

In the months ahead, GE’s research and licensing teams will be sampling media to qualified companies interested in licensing its proprietary holographic data storage platform, a comprehensive portfolio that includes materials, discs, optical systems for manufacturing and optical drive technologies.

Story filed 25.07.11