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New Polymer Ideal For Secure Data Storage

Posted by timothy on from the mutlifaceted dept.

aphexbrett writes "Clever geometry is the basis of a new material that is said to be ideal for secure data encryption and dense optical information storage. The material consists of a lattice of onionlike spheres in which the particle core and its layers each contain a different dye. The material can hold four or more pieces of information in one spot--not just two as in binary optical data storage. And it opens a door to high-density three-dimensional optical data storage. Read a summary of the research over at C&EN News."

2 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Every other week by tliet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    we see an announcement like this. Yet, at the shop, the harddrive is still king.

    When do we get a 100 gb solid state disk for 50 dollars?

  2. Interesting....but leads to other questions! by Paul+Townend · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's great that it can store data in a three dimensional way, but the article doesn't seem to mention how robust such a material would be - will the dyes last for a long period of time, and if not, will some dyes fade before others?

    Also, I would've liked to see some metrics to give an idea of the capacity such a material has in comparison with some of the recent stuff developed by, for example, IBM. Although I appreciate that it's early days at the moment.

    Finally, making a reader for the material is one thing, but I imagine making a writer is an altogether trickier process....how do add and remove all these dye-polymer shells, or is the whole point to have a static, WORM-style data store?