Five Dimensions Store More Data Than Three
An experimental computer memory format uses five dimensions to store data with a density that would allow more than 300 terabytes to be crammed onto a standard optical disc. But unlike an optical disc, which is made of plastic, the experimental media is quartz glass. Researchers have long been trying to use glass as a storage material because it is far more durable than existing plastics. A team led by optoelectronics researcher Jingyu Zhang at the University of Southampton, in the U.K., has demonstrated that information can be stored in glass by changing its birefringence, a property related to how polarized light moves through the glass (PDF). In conventional optical media, such as DVDs, you store data by burning tiny pits on one or more layers on the plastic disc, which means you're using three spatial dimensions to store information. But in Zhang's experiment, he and colleagues exploit two additional, optical dimensions. (via Five Dimensions Store More Data Than Three - IEEE Spectrum)
