Optical storage arrays: a perspective for future big data storage
Open accessAbstract
The advance of nanophotonics has provided a variety of avenues for light–matter interaction at the nanometer scale through the enriched mechanisms for physical and chemical reactions induced by nanometer-confined optical probes in nanocomposite materials. These emerging nanophotonic devices and materials have enabled researchers to develop disruptive methods of tremendously increasing the storage capacity of current optical memory. In this paper, we present a review of the recent advancements in nanophotonics-enabled optical storage techniques. Particularly, we offer our perspective of using them as optical storage arrays for next-generation exabyte data centers. The science and technology of nanophotonics can help dramatically increase the capacity of optical discs. After reviewing research into next-generation optical data storage, Min Gu, Xiangping Li and Yaoyu Cao from the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia have offered their perspective of the creation of exabyte-scale optical data centers. They report that developments in ’super-resolution recording‚, which allow a light-sensitive material to be exposed to a focal spot that is smaller than the diffraction limit of light, will allow the size of recorded bits to shrink to just a few nanometres in size. This would ultimately allow a single disk to store petabytes of data and thus constitute a key component in optical storage arrays for ultrahigh-capacity optical data centers.
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The global data storage demand is predicted to grow to 1.75 × 10^14 GB by 2025.
“the global data storage demand is predicted to grow to 1.75 × 1014 GB by 2025.”
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- Authors
- Gu, M., Li, X., & Cao, Y.
- Affiliations
- Swinburne University of Technology (AU)
- Venue
- Light: Science & Applications
- Published
- 2014-05-23
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e177-e177
- ISSN
- 2047-7538 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2071137961
- Cited by
- 542
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 43 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 68 · 2023: 63 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 59 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 7
- FWCI
- 12.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Light Science & Applications (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- RMIT Research Repository (RMIT University Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology)
- Funders
- Directorate for Biological Sciences (8010678)
- Australian Research Council (FL100100099)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Phase-change materials and chalcogenides
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Advanced Data Storage Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Nonlinear Optical Materials Studies
- Keywords
- nanophotonics, optical data storage, diffraction limit, optical disc, big data storage, nanocomposites, light-matter interaction, storage capacity
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