General Electric (GE) developed a holographic storage system that never took off due to an increase in hard drive capacities during the 2000s. However, the technology has seen recent advancements with the development of a micro-holographic material that supports data recording at the same speed as Blu-ray discs. This material has a storage capacity of 500GB on a typical DVD-size disc and will be presented at the IEEE’s Joint International Symposium on Optical Memory & Optical Data Storage Topical Meeting. GE’s breakthrough in recording speed has brought the micro-holographic technology closer to commercialization.
What Is Holographic Storage Technology?
Holographic storage technology is an optical data storage technology that uses holographic discs to store digital information. The technology uses laser beams to encode data onto a volume of photosensitive material within the disc. The data is retrieved by shining laser beams onto the material and detecting the patterns encoded in the reflected light.
What Was GE’s Holographic Storage System?
General Electric (GE) developed a holographic storage system that could use micro-holographic discs with a storage capacity of up to 500GB. The discs could also play Blu-ray, DVD, and CD media. The micro-holographic material had the same storage capacity as 20 regular Blu-ray discs on a single disc.
GE’s holographic storage system was announced in 2009 but did not take off due to the proliferation of hard drive capacities at the time.
What Was GE’s Breakthrough in Holographic Storage Technology?
GE Global Research, the technological development division of General Electric, made a breakthrough in holographic storage technology by developing a micro-holographic material that can support data recording at the same speed as Blu-ray discs. The research team successfully demonstrated the technology in April 2009 using a threshold micro-holographic storage medium that could sustain 500GB of storage capacity in a typical DVD-size disc.
Peter Lorraine, Manager of the Applied Optics Lab at GE Global Research, presented the breakthrough at the IEEE’s Joint International Symposium on Optical Memory & Optical Data Storage Topical Meeting (ISOM/ODS) in 2011. The breakthrough made micro-holographic technology better prepared for commercialization due to the improvements made in recording speed and other technical advancements over the past two years.
Why Did GE’s Holographic Storage System Not Take Off?
GE’s holographic storage system did not take off due to hard drive capacities proliferating at the same time the technology was introduced. The competition from hard drives, which were becoming cheaper and offering larger storage capacities, made it difficult for holographic storage technology to gain a foothold in the market.
The kernel
GE’s holographic storage system may not have taken off in the market, but the breakthroughs made by GE Global Research have paved the way for micro-holographic technology to be better prepared for commercialization in the future. The improvements made in recording speed and other technical advancements make holographic storage technology a promising prospect for the future of optical data storage.
