'Data stacks' store 1000 times CD capacity

17 Jun 2002

New, polymer-based photonic materials into which can be packed "stacks" of data, like pages in a book, have been developed by University at Buffalo scientists. Made of extremely inexpensive plastic blended with new dyes designed at UB, the materials store thousands of times more data than conventional compact disks (CDs). The UB researchers also have developed an optical technology -- similar to that used in CD players -- to "read" the new materials. The new materials and technology -- the combination of which allows for extremely compact data storage and easy read/write access. While current compact disks store information only on their surfaces, "these new materials could revolutionize data storage because they allow data to be stored in the depth of a disk," said Paras N. Prasad, Ph.D., professor of chemistry, director of the UB Photonics Research Laboratory and principal investigator. The new materials they developed are capable of storing up to 1 terabyte of data per cubic centimeter -- one thousand times more than can be stored in a conventional CD.