5D glass storage ‘memory crystals’ promise up to 13.8 billion years of data storage resilience, which is roughly the age of the universe — crams 360 terabytes into 5-inch glass disc with femtosecond laser

SPhotonics says it has moved its so-called 5D memory crystal technology out of the lab and closer to real-world deployment, outlining plans to pilot glass-based cold storage systems in data centers over the next two years, according to comments made during an interview. registerThe UK start-up, which emerged from research at the University of Southampton and is set to take place in 2024, has announced details of its first round of external funding,

The company’s storage medium is a fused silica glass platter, written using a femtosecond laser that encodes data in nanoscale structures. Information is stored in five dimensions: three spatial coordinates (x, y, z), as well as the orientation and intensity of the nanostructures, which are read back optically using polarized light. SPhotonics claims that a single 5-inch glass disk can hold up to 360TB of data, with the media designed to remain stable for 13.8 billion years – the estimated age of the universe – assuming there are no external accidents along the way.