HYPER CD-ROM
Three Dimensional Optical Memory with Fluorescent Photosensitive Glass

What is the Hyper CD-ROM?

The Hyper CD-ROM is a tridimensional multilayer optical memory, based on the phenomenon of controlled extinction of the fluorescence.

The Hyper CD-ROM allows the recording of information inside the “shelves” of a glass disk using laser beams. Such a glass disk has a storing capacity of over 10,000 Gigabytes (GB) of memory - an amazing size in comparison with those developed by the highest level computer firms and benchmarks - that allows storing of approximately 10 million books of standard format. It is in fact, an “optic tridimensional multilevel memory” so it can store data in over 10,000 different levels inside a glass disk 10 mm high and 120 mm in diameter. The most attractive aspect is that the support for storage (i.e. fluorescent photosensitive glass) is a very stable in time medium (information can be read during all the life of the glass - estimated to at least 5,000 years).

The features

Capacity: 10TB with extension to 100TB
Average data-transfer rate: 3Mb/s
Dimensions of CD-ROM-Drive: 80x150x300mm
Dimensions of CD-ROM: 10xø120mm
Thermic resistance: up to 550 deg. Celsius
Very high fiability
Stable in time (estimated to at least 5,000 years)

The product can be produced using commercial equipment

Technical details

The support of the optical memory is a fluorescent photosensitive material specially designed for this application.

The writing / reading of the memory is realized with a system formed by a disk drive having the size doubled compared to the usual disk drives of the desktops PC, which incorporates a confocal microscope. The writing procedure is realized by the irradiation of a selected volume of the optical memory. Following the radiation, there appears an electronic transition at atomic level, and the irradiated areas will present a modified fluorescence compared to the non-irradiated areas.
The effect is stable in time at the surrounding temperature and is used for recording one bit of information.
The same confocal microscope is used for reading, optical memory being scanned with three displacement systems: vertical, radial and rotative.

Due to the fact that in 1micron^3 of fluorescent photosensitive material there are approximately 10^8 fluorescent atoms, the improvement of the techniques for three-dimensional limiting of the atoms, will allow the increase of the storage capacity up to one hundred million times. The writing and reading on groups of atoms located in equivalent positions will allow the increase of storage of more than 100 times, which means that on a disk with a 120 mm diameter and 10 mm thick more than 1 PB (1,000,000 GB) can be stored.

The need - Estimations regarding the necessary storage capacity

As presented by Constellation 3D at a demonstration in Silicon Valley on 30 November 1999, quote “the growth in demand for digital storage capacity exceeds 60% per annum, with no indication of a let up in the trend. Facilities such as Storage Area Networks, data warehouses, supercomputers and e-commerce related data mining require ever-greater capacity in order to handle the volume of data to be processed.
In addition, with the advent of high bandwidth Internet and data intensive applications such as High Definition TV and Video & Music-On-Demand, even smaller devices such as Personal VCRs, PDAs (personal digital assistant), mobile phones and the proliferating range of other Information Appliances will in the next couple of years demand multi-gigabyte and terabyte capacities.
High Definition TV and Video & Music-On-Demand applications require over terabit/sec reading speed” unquote. According to OITDA (Optoelectronic Industry and Technology Development Association), optical memories of 100 Gb / in^2 will be needed in 2005, and of 1,000 Gb / in^2 (or 1 Tb / in^2 ) in 2010.

Market applications

Initially, the 3D optical memory was developed for military purposes.
Having in mind the storage capacity of the Hyper CD-ROM mentioned above, of 10 TB, this invention has many applications both in the civilian and military world.
The field of applications for the Hyper CD-ROM technology is extremely diverse, this device becoming in short period the most secure and stable storage facility:
 - Data archiving systems for large organizations: governmental institutions, banks, insurance companies, hospitals, libraries, museums, TV networks, movie studios, space and military applications, Internet servers
 - Data archiving systems for individual owing PCs: encyclopedia, music, movie, literature, scientific journals and books, school manuals, commercial catalogues, etc.

The author

Dr. Eugen Pavel
Calea Mosilor nr.274, ap.34, Bucharest, Romania;
Phone/Fax: 40-1-2118478;
e-mail: eugenp@totalnet.ro

Graduated Physics, Bucharest University - 1976
Awarded with the Romanian Academy Prize - 1991
Who’s Who in the World, Marquis - 1997
Over 40 scientific works published and presented at specialised conferences
62 patents and patent applications

Awards/recognition

The Hyper CD-ROM technology is patented in 21 countries: USA, Canada, Japan, Israel and 17 European states. The Hyper CD-ROM, presented in November 1999 at Brussels EUREKA “48th World Exhibition of Innovation and New Technology”, won “Prix International de l’Organisation Mondiale de la Presse Periodique” and a gold medal, and in Romania, the Grand Prize of the “Kent Premium Lights Annual Awards for Innovation” 2000 organised by the Romanian Design Foundation.