Long-term preservation of digital information is challenging, as magnetic tapes and hard drives degrade within decades. Now, A scientific team has developed a new glass-based technique that could store huge amounts of data for 10,000 years.
Behind this research is the Silica project team from Microsoft Research who presents his storage system in an article in the scientific magazine Nature. It describes how laser-modified glass could store digital information long-term, “a significant advance” that expands on previous technology.
This would be effective for the long-term storage of legal, personal and business data that must be kept securely.
Silica is an initiative that uses recent discoveries in ultra-fast laser optics and artificial intelligence to store data in glass, a material resistant to water, heat and dust.
The project had already demonstrated progress through several proofs of concept, including storing the movie “Superman” in quartz glass or collaborating with Global Music Vault to preserve music under ice for 10,000 years.
Optical storage methods, particularly laser writing on robust media such as glass, have emerged as promising alternatives with potential for greater longevity, the authors write in their paper. This technique is resistant to humidity, temperature changes and electromagnetic interference.
However, until now the existence of an effective system for writing and retrieving data using this technique had not been demonstrated, the magazine summarizes.
The Silica team now presents a system that writes data to glass using a multibeam femtosecond laser. This can encode data units called voxels (three-dimensional pixels) into the glass, each of which is capable of storing more than 1 bit of data..
This in-glass storage with femtosecond laser pulses is one of the few technologies on the horizon with the potential for durable, immutable, long-lived storage, notes Microsoft Research.
“Although we have been leading innovation in this type of storage for years, before this research the technique only worked with pure fused silica glass, a type of glass that is relatively difficult to manufacture and available only in a few places.”
In the new paper the researchers show how data can be stored in borosilicate glass.
The new technique stores hundreds of layers of data in glass just 2 millimeters thick, just like previous methods, but with important improvements – the laser is responsible for encoding data in glass.
The glass reader now only requires one camera, instead of three or four, reducing cost and size. In addition, writing devices require fewer parts, which makes them easier to manufacture and calibrate, and allows them to encode data more quickly, the company says.
5,000 movies
The system – also called Silica – can store 4.8 terabytes (TB) of data on a glass plate or chip that is 12 square centimeters and 2 millimeters thick.
This storage is equivalent to about 2 million printed books or 5,000 4K ultra-high definition movies.
Scientists carried out experiments to calculate the estimated lifespan of Silica, suggesting that the data could be readable for up to 10,000 years if stored at 290 degrees, indicating that it could likely last longer at room temperature.
A limitation of service life tests is that the estimates do not take into account influences such as mechanical stress or chemical corrosion, which can degrade the glass support and its data, the magazine warns.
Shandong University researchers Feng Chen and Bo Wu weigh in on the technique in a supporting article.
“If implemented on a large scale, it could represent a milestone in the history of knowledge storage, similar to oracle bones, the medieval scroll, or the modern hard drive. One day, a single piece of glass could carry the torch of human culture and knowledge across millennia.”