Scientists from Delft University of technology, located in the Netherlands, has managed to create a unique data storage device where every bit of information is encoded using only a single atom. That will allow you to achieve a similar density? Let’s say, 1 square centimeter of such cells will allow you to store about 10 terabytes of information, and this would in turn fit all the books ever written by mankind, on media the size of a postage stamp.
“Each bit is represented by a chlorine atom on a flat substrate of copper atoms. We can move the atom in two positions, thereby changing its value. If the atom is in the upper position is a unit, if the bottom is zero. Eight of these atoms is already bytes,” — explained to journalists the Otta sander, a researcher from Delft University.
Scientists have managed to build a very elegant atomic lattice of size less than 100 nanometers within which is stored kilobytes of data. The displacement of atoms was performed using the needle of a scanning tunneling microscope. The end of the string or separate file is marked with a special combinations of atoms. Scientists have created rather simple and straightforward system for recording and overwriting data on an atomic level, so it can be eventually automated. But when such drives will be sold in electronics stores – is not yet going to assume no.
Of course, while on the way scientists have many questions that need to be addressed in order to make their technology accessible to everyone. For example, the substrate copper and the chlorine atoms are most stable in vacuum and at a temperature of 77 Kelvin (the approximate temperature of liquid nitrogen). If the temperature rises above – it puts the security of the data under the big question. And the speed of overwriting a tiny block, created by experts from the Netherlands, leaves much to be desired – it takes a few minutes.
Anyway, the idea of creating such a drive is very promising, if developed in the right direction. Because the storage density today is 500 times superior to all available human technology. Scientists worldwide are experimenting with various alternative carriers of information. Recently, if you remember, they were able to record about 200 megabytes of data in DNA molecules. What will happen next?
