Re: holographic data storage

In the late '80's, I came up with an idea for storing data in a three- dimensional matrix (i.e., in a crystal). Years later, I read that several companies are actually making progress on prototypes of this (and including ideas I hadn't thought of; i.e., not only are three dimensions allowed, but data can be 'stacked' on a single physical point merely by changing the angle of view of the reading laser. My question is, what further progress has been made on this? Are there any projections as to when such devices will become marketable? What kind of capacity can we expect for the early models? (i.e., is this in the gigabyte range? terabyte?)

That's a good idea, and yes, there are several companies working on holographic data storage. A lot of progress has been made in the past twenty years, and prospects for introduction of a holographic data storage product soon are good. Perhaps even sometime in the next 3-5 years. Projections for holographic storage modules range from multi-gigabyte to terabyte.

Some links:
Optical Information Processing Group, Caltech (check out the papers section).
Holography and Optical Data Storage Group, Stanford
Holoplex, Inc.

-Greg Billock