[M4rk0]

Laser Nanoantenna Disc (Projected) -> 5TB Of Data Storage (5,000GB) O_o

Harvard University researchers haven’t yet demonstrated the laser nanoantenna’s
ability to store data on an optical disc. However, their research
indicates that it should work with the proper modifications.
During demonstrations of the laser nanoantenna in late 2006, Harvard
Assistant Professor Ken Crozier said the researchers used an infrared laser
with a wavelength of 830nm. “In principle, the antenna would work with
any laser,” he says. But to make the laser nanoantenna work for optical
disc storage, Crozier and fellow professor Federico Capasso say they need
to develop a writing medium for the laser that could hover 10 to 20nm
above the surface of the optical disc. (Because of the proximity of the laser
to the storage medium, researchers sometimes call this “near-field” optical
storage technology.) “I would expect that if it were possible to use the laser
nanoantenna for optical disc storage, one could use discs made of similar
materials to CDs and DVDs, but the design of the discs would need to be
changed,” Crozier says, “[because] the writing medium would need to be in
very close proximity to the laser nanoantenna. The laser nanoantenna concentrates
light to a tiny spot—we’ve measured 40 x 100nm—but the light
spreads out as you move away from the nanoantenna. Therefore, the
nanoantenna needs to be very close to the medium.”
Placing the writing medium so close to the optical disc will take some
additional research, but Capasso is confident the researchers will be
successful. “We have to put the laser at a distance of tens of nanometers,
using the near-field principle,” Capasso says. “We know how to do
this from hard drive technology [where the read/write head hovers just
above the platter]. The head’s movement is like flying a 747 a few inches
from the ground.”