Forget CDs and DVDs limited by laser wavelength: a team of scientists from the University of Chicago has imagined a revolutionary storage device using magnesium (MgO) crystals and narrow-band emitters. The latter, composed of rare elements, produce specific wavelengths, allowing much more information to be stored in a reduced space.
1,000 times denser
This new system is based on a fascinating phenomenon: “quantum defects” in the crystal structure of materials. These small imperfections, which contain unbound electrons, absorb and store light energy emitted by neighboring rare elements. This interaction between light and matter at the nanometric scale opens up new perspectives for optical devices.
Professor Giulia Galli, co-author of the study published in Physical Review Researchexplain : ” We modeled how energy moves between emitters and defects on an extremely small scale. This discovery could be the basis for incredibly efficient optical storage. »
Currently, photons used in optical lasers measure between 500 nanometers and 1 micrometer. The photons produced by narrow-band emitters are much smaller. Result: storage space up to 1,000 times denser than with current technologies.
For this idea to become a reality, several technical challenges remain to be overcome. For example, researchers still need to determine how long quantum defects can retain absorbed energy and how to efficiently extract the stored data. “ Understanding this energy transfer is a big first step, but we still need to answer fundamental questions to turn this concept into practical technology », Specifies Swarnabha Chattaraj, researcher at the Argonne laboratory.
Another major obstacle is temperature. Most quantum technologies require environments near absolute zero to avoid information loss due to decoherence. Here, the goal is to operate this device at room temperature, a challenge to the resolution essential for its adoption.
If this technology sees the light of day, it could disrupt sectors that require massive data storage, such as data centers, artificial intelligence or even cinema. Imagine a DVD-sized optical disc capable of holding thousands of high-definition movies!
In the meantime, this advance once again demonstrates the potential of quantum mechanics to push the limits of what is possible. The researchers are still far from a marketable product, but their discovery lays the foundation for a new generation of storage devices.
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