DATA STORAGE
Holograms aren't just for security stickers anymore; they may soon become a breakthrough data storage medium. Lucent is working on a holographic technology that the company says would let consumers store the equivalent of 100 movies on a single compact disc, and transfer data at 1 Gbyte per second - about 25 times faster than a DVD.
Unlike earlier efforts that aimed to store holographic data inside crystals, Lucent's Bell Labs (www.bell-labs.com) has designed a process that combines holography and off-the-shelf technology to record data onto a light-sensitive polymer material it invented. While conventional technology records data serially - bit by bit on magnetic tape or on DVD - Lucent's holo-tech stores and transmits information in large page blocks via bursts of light.
"There's always been a lack of support components to make holographic drives," says Lisa Dhar, a member of Bell Labs' technical staff. "But now advances in projection-display devices and digital cameras, as well as in the printing industry, have finally allowed us to develop an affordable holographic technology."
Lucent has cut a deal with 3M spin-off Imation (www.imation.com) - creator of SuperDisk and other storage technologies - to develop a line of products that would use holographic storage.
Imation expects to demo prototypes by next year. Meanwhile, European rivals - including German conglomerate Bayer - are working on holographic storage systems of their own.
While holo-storage would be an immediate boon to data warehousing and management, it would be even more lucrative in the wireless market. A postage-stamp-sized fragment of light-sensitive polymer holding 20 Gbytes could turn a PDA into a data warehouse.
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