The data on the disk will be recorded using magnets and lasers.
At the beginning of this year, a group of engineers from the Netherlands presented a new way of storing data. He combined the methods of magnetic and optical recording and has a higher performance than the classic hard drives.
Photo by Andrew "FastLizard4" / Flickr / CC BY-SA
One of the most common carriers in the data center is hard drives. They are quite cheap (compared to SSD) and have a high capacity. However, large arrays consisting of these devices consume substantial amounts of electricity.
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Given that the volume of stored data is constantly growing, and increasing electricity bills. This type of storage may account for half of the energy consumed by data centers. At the same time, the performance of hard drives, in spite of regularly improved recording technologies, is inferior, for example, to solid-state drives.
Scientists from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU / e) undertook to solve these problems. They combined the capabilities of magnetic and optical recording to develop a new technology.
The solution is based on the effect of all-optical switching (all-optical switching), using an ultrashort laser pulse to switch the polarity of the magnetic material. This effect was discovered ten years ago, however, until today for the reversal it was necessary to use a series of laser pulses, which greatly slowed down the recording time.
A team of TU / e engineers were able to perform optical switching with a single femtosecond laser . Data recording was conducted on a synthetic ferromagnet. The switching of the cell was carried out in a few picoseconds, which is hundreds of times higher than the capabilities of classical magnetic devices.
The authors have combined this approach to recording with a “running memory” - a magnetic “wire” through which an electric current carries bits. Bits recorded by a laser pulse, move further along the wire and free up space for recording the next piece of information. It turns out a kind of conveyor.
It will be possible to read the recorded information using another high-speed optical device, but so far the engineers from TU / e have not implemented it. Researchers are also looking for ways to reduce the size of all components of a new type of memory in order to use it in integrated photonics circuits.
A similar data recording technology was invented by engineers from Australia. They suggested using fluorescent salt crystals as a carrier. A low-power laser encodes information using special patterns — changes the fluorescent properties of crystals according to a certain pattern.
Scientists hope that due to the low power of lasers and the size of salt in the future, such storage will be used in photonic integrated circuits . Crystals can also be embedded in any material - plastic, metal, glass. Therefore, in the future, grains of salt can become a full-fledged storage system for user gadgets.
Similar goals were set by specialists from China. They developed a 10 TB optical disk that can store information for six hundred years. The disc matrix was made of glass and gold. Glass was chosen as the main material because of its durability - it can remain unchanged for a thousand years. The information was coded in five dimensions: three directions in space, plus color and polarization. For recording, the team used a femtosecond laser.
Photo by Rob Lee / Flickr / CC BY-ND
Test tests showed that after a three-hour artificial aging in a furnace at a temperature of 180 ° C, the data on the disk is still readable. The results can be found on page 5 of the scientific article .
A similar solution was presented by engineers from the UK and Germany. Their type of optical memory also uses lasers to change state in cells, each of which stores five bits of information. In the future, the technology is planned to be used for the development of photon analogs of microprocessors or to be integrated into optical memory chips.
All the above optical technology in the future can completely replace the HDD. High write speed and low power consumption, which is achieved by using single laser pulses, will allow to introduce the approach into photonic integrated circuits. But so far, all experiments with similar devices are carried out within the walls of laboratories. And it is not known when the first gadgets will appear on the market, if it happens at all.
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Photo by Andrew "FastLizard4" / Flickr / CC BY-SA
What is technology
One of the most common carriers in the data center is hard drives. They are quite cheap (compared to SSD) and have a high capacity. However, large arrays consisting of these devices consume substantial amounts of electricity.
')
Given that the volume of stored data is constantly growing, and increasing electricity bills. This type of storage may account for half of the energy consumed by data centers. At the same time, the performance of hard drives, in spite of regularly improved recording technologies, is inferior, for example, to solid-state drives.
Scientists from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU / e) undertook to solve these problems. They combined the capabilities of magnetic and optical recording to develop a new technology.
How it works
The solution is based on the effect of all-optical switching (all-optical switching), using an ultrashort laser pulse to switch the polarity of the magnetic material. This effect was discovered ten years ago, however, until today for the reversal it was necessary to use a series of laser pulses, which greatly slowed down the recording time.
A team of TU / e engineers were able to perform optical switching with a single femtosecond laser . Data recording was conducted on a synthetic ferromagnet. The switching of the cell was carried out in a few picoseconds, which is hundreds of times higher than the capabilities of classical magnetic devices.
The authors have combined this approach to recording with a “running memory” - a magnetic “wire” through which an electric current carries bits. Bits recorded by a laser pulse, move further along the wire and free up space for recording the next piece of information. It turns out a kind of conveyor.
It will be possible to read the recorded information using another high-speed optical device, but so far the engineers from TU / e have not implemented it. Researchers are also looking for ways to reduce the size of all components of a new type of memory in order to use it in integrated photonics circuits.
Similar developments
A similar data recording technology was invented by engineers from Australia. They suggested using fluorescent salt crystals as a carrier. A low-power laser encodes information using special patterns — changes the fluorescent properties of crystals according to a certain pattern.
Scientists hope that due to the low power of lasers and the size of salt in the future, such storage will be used in photonic integrated circuits . Crystals can also be embedded in any material - plastic, metal, glass. Therefore, in the future, grains of salt can become a full-fledged storage system for user gadgets.
Similar goals were set by specialists from China. They developed a 10 TB optical disk that can store information for six hundred years. The disc matrix was made of glass and gold. Glass was chosen as the main material because of its durability - it can remain unchanged for a thousand years. The information was coded in five dimensions: three directions in space, plus color and polarization. For recording, the team used a femtosecond laser.
Photo by Rob Lee / Flickr / CC BY-ND
Test tests showed that after a three-hour artificial aging in a furnace at a temperature of 180 ° C, the data on the disk is still readable. The results can be found on page 5 of the scientific article .
A similar solution was presented by engineers from the UK and Germany. Their type of optical memory also uses lasers to change state in cells, each of which stores five bits of information. In the future, the technology is planned to be used for the development of photon analogs of microprocessors or to be integrated into optical memory chips.
All the above optical technology in the future can completely replace the HDD. High write speed and low power consumption, which is achieved by using single laser pulses, will allow to introduce the approach into photonic integrated circuits. But so far, all experiments with similar devices are carried out within the walls of laboratories. And it is not known when the first gadgets will appear on the market, if it happens at all.
Posts from our blog:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/443098/
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