Researchers develop ‘Superman memory crystal’ that could store 360TB of data forever

[Halcyon.]

Researchers at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Center have developed a new form of data storage that could potentially survive for billions of years. The research consists of nanostructured glass that can record digital data in five dimensions using femtosecond laser writing.

The crystal storage contains 360TB per disc and is stable at up to 1,000 degrees celsius. You record data using an ultra-fast laser that produces short and intense pulses of light — on the order of one quadrillionth of a second each — and it writes the file in fused quartz, in three layers of nanostructured dots separated by five micrometers. Reading the data back requires pulsing the laser again, and recording the polarization of the waves with an optical microscope and polarizer. The five dimensions consist of the size and orientation in addition to the three-dimensional position of the nanostructures.

The group coined the storage the “Superman memory crystal” after the crystals found in the Superman films.

“It is thrilling to think that we have created the technology to preserve documents and information and store it in space for [CENSORED]ure generations,” professor Peter Kazansky, from the Optoelectronics Research Center, said in a statement. “This technology can secure the last evidence of our civilization: all we’ve learnt will not be forgotten.”

The group says the crystals have a virtually unlimited lifetime at room temperature, or 13.8 billion year lifespan at 190 degrees Celsius (hey, that’s the age of the Universe). In 2013, the researchers first stored a 300K text file in five dimensions using the same technology. So far, the group has encoded major documents from human history like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Newton’s Opticks, the Magna Carta, and the Kings James Bible as digital copies that could theoretically survive humans on our planet.

There’s no word yet on the speed of data storage or the cost of the materials or lasers necessary to create these crystals; we imagine they’re not something you’re going to be able to order from Newegg next week. Nonetheless, the group plans to present the research at the International Society for Optical Engineering Conference in San Francisco this week. It says the storage could be useful for national archives, museums, libraries, and other organizations with tremendous amounts of data to store.

Back in August, a team of scientists presented a way to use genetic material — DNA — to store virtually unlimited amounts of data for 2,000 years or more. DNA storage is known to be extremely slow, even with modern, high-throughput sequencing. But like the Superman memory crystals described above, we’re talking about massive archival data storage, not booting into Fallout 4 more quickly.