Optical storage breakthrough

There is new hope for the DVD. According to a story in the, IEEE Spectrum, microphotonics researchers at Swinburn University in Australia have come up with a way to store 1.6 terabytes of data on a standard-size DVD. To achieve that kind of density on a 12 cm diameter disk they used a stack of three specially prepared films, then used a laser with varying wave lengths and polarization to write and read the data. What is really cool is the fact that the technology could be compatible with current disk drive technology. Don’t hold your breath though; the new technology isn’t expected to be in stores for 5 to 10 years.