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Titanium Oxide For High-Density Optical Storage

Posted by kdawson on from the fast-cheap-and-in-control dept.

Stoobalou and other readers sent along word of research out of Japan, using a new crystal form of titanium oxide for high-density data storage — promising discs that store 1,000 times more data than Blu-ray does today, up to 25 TB. The material transforms from a black-colored metal state that conducts electricity into a brown semiconductor when hit by light, at room temperature. Titanium oxide's market price is about one-hundredth that of the rare element that is currently used in rewritable Blu-ray discs and DVDs. The material is cheap and safe, and is already being used in many products ranging from face powder to white paint. The researchers successfully created the material in particles measuring as small as 5 nanometers in diameter.

6 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdotted, Coral cache link by TeknoHog · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.redorbit.com.nyud.net/news/technology/1869698/new_disc_could_hold_a_thousand_times_more_data/

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  2. Titanium dioxide? by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 5, Informative

    TFA and TFS both refer to "Titanium oxide" which typically means either TiO or Ti2O3 (Ti in either II or III states). However, both TFS and TFA also assert that the "Titanium oxide" is used in sunscreen and suchlike, which implies it is Titanium dioxide, TiO2 (Ti in IV state), not Titanium oxide.
    Most likely, TFA should have referred to Titanium dioxide, as this is also a semiconductor in crystalline state.

    --
    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    1. Re:Titanium dioxide? by NewToNix · · Score: 5, Informative
      A better description is simply 'a Titanium metal oxide' - the phase shift is between Ti3O5 and -Ti3O5. http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nchem.670.html/

      "This is the first demonstration of a photorewritable phenomenon at room temperature in a metal oxide. -Ti3O5 satisfies the operation conditions required for a practical optical storage system (operational temperature, writing data by short wavelength light and the appropriate threshold laser power)."

  3. Re:Good for archival purposes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are you saying I could store my entire porn collection on marshmallows?

    Isn't your porn collection sticky enough already?

  4. One thing missing though: by Hurricane78 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The point.

    Why again do we need another slow optical disc medium? The times of those are clearly over.
    Until that thing comes out, USB sticks are going to be 25 TB too. And much smaller. And not prone to scratching, sunlight, bending, dust, etc. And for everything else there is HDDs/SSDs.

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  5. Re:Good for archival purposes? by Culture20 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are there any projections/estimates related to how stable this media would be when used for long-term archival storage?

    If the state changes in light, then there are some rules to follow:

    1. No bright light
    2. Don't get them wet
    3. Never feed them after midnight, no matter how much they beg