Wild Cobra
07-18-2016, 08:49 PM
It's a long ways off if it ever happens, but science is always trying new concepts. I found this Article in nature Nanotech to be interesting:
Here, we present a robust digital atomic-scale memory of up to 1 kilobyte (8,000 bits) using an array of individual surface vacancies in a chlorine-terminated Cu(100) surface. The memory can be read and rewritten automatically by means of atomic-scale markers and offers an areal density of 502 terabits per square inch, outperforming state-of-the-art hard disk drives by three orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the chlorine vacancies are found to be stable at temperatures up to 77 K, offering the potential for expanding large-scale atomic assembly towards ambient conditions.
Translating the two-dimensional storage density presented here to
three dimensions, would—assuming a modest vertical pitch of
5nm—allow the storage of the entire US Library of Congress in a
cube 100 µm wide.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.131
Seems to me this is a first step finding a means of using crystals lattice and optics for storage.
Article in Nature News not paywalled for those who don't have a subscription:
http://www.nature.com/news/atom-wranglers-create-rewritable-memory-1.20269?WT.ec_id=NEWSDAILY-20160718
http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/images/nnano.2016.131-f1.jpg
http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/images/nnano.2016.131-f3.jpg
Here, we present a robust digital atomic-scale memory of up to 1 kilobyte (8,000 bits) using an array of individual surface vacancies in a chlorine-terminated Cu(100) surface. The memory can be read and rewritten automatically by means of atomic-scale markers and offers an areal density of 502 terabits per square inch, outperforming state-of-the-art hard disk drives by three orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the chlorine vacancies are found to be stable at temperatures up to 77 K, offering the potential for expanding large-scale atomic assembly towards ambient conditions.
Translating the two-dimensional storage density presented here to
three dimensions, would—assuming a modest vertical pitch of
5nm—allow the storage of the entire US Library of Congress in a
cube 100 µm wide.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.131
Seems to me this is a first step finding a means of using crystals lattice and optics for storage.
Article in Nature News not paywalled for those who don't have a subscription:
http://www.nature.com/news/atom-wranglers-create-rewritable-memory-1.20269?WT.ec_id=NEWSDAILY-20160718
http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/images/nnano.2016.131-f1.jpg
http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/images/nnano.2016.131-f3.jpg