14 DAY TRIAL // Although blu-ray discs are just starting to get a hold of the market, having won the battle with the HD DVD data format, they are already threatened by a new technology, HVD (Holographic Versatile Discs). The new data support is not yet designed up to the point where it can physically replace BDs, but, when they are complete, they will be able to store as much as 1,000 gigabytes of data, which is approximately 20 times more than the top blue-ray discs can store at this point.
The DVD has been surpassed by the blue disc because the latter has the ability to store larger quantities of data, due to the technology it incorporates. Both types of data storage use lasers to read small grooves on the surface of the discs, but the difference between the two is that the DVD has much larger grooves that a blue-ray disc, which naturally allows it to encode less data in them. Single-layer blu discs can store up to 25 GB of information, but double-layer ones can store up to 50 GB.
On the other hand, holographic disk writers do not only inscribe the superficial layer of the disk with grooves, but use two lasers to place data throughout the thickness of the disk. One of these lasers emits light continuously, while the other shines intermittently, encoding sequences of digital 1s and 0s on the disk. But, thus far, the problem with this system has been that the heat emanating from the two sources of light is so high that the plastic of the disk shrinks, and interferences occur while reading it.
University of California researchers, led by Craig Hawker, have managed to find a solution to this problem, by simply replacing the small molecules of the plastic with larger ones that only allow for 0.04 percent distortions, as opposed to the 0.23 percent registered by other building techniques. "For real-world applications, the shrinkage values should be below 0.1%," the team leader says.
Numerous companies and businesses could benefit from the new discs, considering that most of these firms relay on several hundred DVD discs to hold the back-up databases of their files. With their ability to store as much as 1,000 gigabytes, HVD discs could soon become the most popular medium of transferring information, especially now that programs, applications and computer games have increased in size, in order to supply their users with a richer interactive experience.