Can Quartz Crystals Really Store Unlimited Data for an Unlimited Time?

[siiix]

Illiac IV had thin film memory which was etched on glass and read out by laser.

but that's only 1 time writable , although even 1 time writable media crystals would be way cooler then todays plastics disks

 

[JaredJames]

but that's only 1 time writable , although even 1 time writable media crystals would be way cooler then todays plastics disks

Even thought it works in exactly the same way and would need to be the same shape because we don't have a cheap and easy way of reading 3D structures in that way.

So you basically end up with a CD made of crystal. How useful.

 

[vadadagon]

FWIW the short answer is yes. Not in massive amount (not yet anyway) and it was accomplished in the 1940s.

The next significant advance in computer memory was with acoustic delay line memory developed by J. Presper Eckert in the early 1940s. Through the construction of a glass tube filled with mercury and plugged at each end with a quartz crystal, delay lines could store bits of information within the quartz and transfer it through sound waves propagating through mercury. Delay line memory would be limited to a capacity of up to a few hundred thousand bits to remain efficient.


reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_memory
More reference - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Presper_Eckert
More reference - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay_line_memory

But don't rely solely on Wikipedia

Other references -
http://history-computer.com/People/EckertBio.html
http://wvegter.hivemind.net/abacus/CyberHeroes/Eckert.htm
http://www.decodesystems.com/delay-line-memory.html
http://www.computer.org/portal/web/awards/entrepreneuereckert
http://www.google.com/search?q=Dela...v&sa=X&ei=hyWuTfO-JardiALo39TODA&ved=0CEEQsAQ


Hope this answers your question. Like I said short answer is Yes (read more for details).

 

[StringJunky]

Fast forward a year or so:

A woman holds up Japanese electronics giant Hitachi's new quartz glass plate technology, which can be used to store data indefinitely, in Tokyo on September 24. The company on Monday unveiled a method of storing digital information on slivers of quartz glass that can endure extreme temperatures and hostile conditions without degrading, almost forever.

To read more: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-japan-hitachi.html#jCp

 

[MarieDacat]

Yes, it is possible.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-09/25/hitachi-quartz-data-storage

 

[CHale]

You do realize that you linked to a woo-woo video about crop circles, aliens, crystal skulls, etc, don't you? That's not a place to find any accurate information on data-storage.

So you need a material that is photosensitive and I don't believe crystal is, so it won't do the job. So no, you can't store data in crystals.

A quick search with the keywords from that video leads to some guy who both worked on quartz for IBM, and also sold quartz as spiritual items. One of those two jobs is scientific, the other is not. That may be where the confusion comes from.

Reading this thread was great because I learned about two important things. Firstly, that quartz can indeed store data (360 TB... per disk!), as was asserted by the "woo-woo video" and "some guy" who "sold quartz as spiritual items."

The second thing I learned about was the dualistic primitivity and curiosity of human nature - quick to criticize new ideas not contained within the limits of it's own finite reality box, while at the same time challenging the alternatives, on some levels in hopes that they may be wrong.


"5D ‘Superman memory’ crystal could lead to unlimited lifetime data storage

Using nanostructured glass, scientists at the University of Southampton have, for the first time, experimentally demonstrated the recording and retrieval processes of five dimensional digital data by femtosecond laser writing. The storage allows unprecedented parameters including 360 TB/disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1000°C and practically unlimited lifetime."
[/PLAIN]
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/mediacentre/news/2013/jul/13_131.shtml[/URL]