Microsoft this week published Nature research showing it can encode 2.02 TB across 258 layers on a 2 mm borosilicate glass plate using femtosecond lasers, achieving write speeds between 18.4 and 65.9 Mbps and single-camera readback. The team developed phase-based voxels requiring one laser pulse, and accelerated-aging tests suggest viability beyond 10,000 years, which could lower material costs compared with fused silica for long-term archives.
Key Points
- 1Encoded 2.02 TB across 258 layers on a 2 mm borosilicate glass plate.
- 2Reduces costs by using common borosilicate instead of fused silica, easing manufacture and material sourcing.
- 3Enables single-pulse phase-based voxels and single-camera reads, boosting write speeds to 18–66 Mbps.
Scoring Rationale
Strong peer-reviewed demonstration with practical materials and faster writes, but it remains lab-stage research without immediate commercialization plans.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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