Microsoft Demonstrates Borosilicate Glass Data Storage

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.