Imagine
a disc that can store data for million years. Is it possible?
Data storage methods that we currently use
help us to store data for few decades. Time changed and a solution that can
even help the mankind to share their knowledge or information to the future
generations is coming up. A team of Dutch and German researchers have developed
a technology that could hold readable data for up to 1 billion years.
How did they do it? Did they travel away
from a conventional path? Did they look in a different angle? Yes. The team
approached the problem of long term data storage from an angle of optical
consistency. First step was to device a material that could remain stable for
eons. The team settled on element tungsten because it has a very high melting point
of almost 3,422 degree Celsius and low thermal expansion. It means whatever we
make out of tungsten remains unchanged over time. Tungsten is somehow
malleable, so researchers encapsulated the metal in silicon nitride. This inert
solid is durable and is transparent to light, which allows tungsten pattern to
be visualised. The optical disk developed by the researchers employs an
increasingly common type of 2D matrix barcode called a QR code.
You can read more on this on research paper: arXiv:1310.2961
nice work.
ReplyDelete