A team of researchers from an Australian university has developed a new DVD technology that could someday boost disc capacity by 10,000 times beyond today's standard 4.7GB DVDs, according to a study published in the journal <i>Nature</i>.
GE Global Research, the technology development arm of the General Electric Co. said Monday it has made a breakthrough in holographic optical disc storage, saying its researchers have developed material that can support as much as 500GB of capacity on a single standard DVD-sized disk.
General Electric Global Research says it has figured out a way to put up to 500GB of data on a regular-sized DVD disc under laboratory conditions. GE says its breakthrough was achieved by writing 3-dimensional patterns that represent data onto a disc made of highly reflective material. The disc then acts as a mirror that makes it possible for a laser to pick up the entire piece of data. GE's process doesn't just put information onto the surface of the disc--as DVDs and CDs do--but etches the micro-holographic patterns below the surface of the disc as well.