Scientists at the University have made a major step forward in the development of digital data storage that is capable of surviving for billions of years.
Using nanostructured glass, scientists from the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) have developed the recording and retrieval processes of five dimensional (5D) digital data by ultrafast laser writing.
The storage allows unprecedented properties including increased data capacity, the ability to withstand temperatures up to 1,000°C, opening a new era of eternal data archiving.
As a very stable and safe form of portable memory, the technology could be highly useful for organisations with big archives, such as national archives, museums and libraries, to preserve their information and records.
The technology was first experimentally demonstrated in 2013 when a 300 kb digital copy of a text file was successfully recorded in 5D.
Now, major documents from human history such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Newton’s Opticks, Magna Carta and King James Bible, have been saved as digital copies that could survive the human race. A copy of the UDHR, encoded to 5D data storage, was recently presented to UNESCO by the ORC at the International Year of Light (IYL) closing ceremony in Mexico.
Professor Peter Kazansky, from the ORC, says:
“It is thrilling to think that we have created the technology to preserve documents and information and store it in space for future generations. This technology can secure the last evidence of our civilisation: all we’ve learnt will not be forgotten.”
You can read the full press release on the University website.