Recent Advances in Nanotechnology May Lead to a Massive Increase in Memory Capacity
There are two very exciting recent advances in nanotechnology may soon result in a massive increase in memory capacities of your DVDs and iPods:
Researchers at the Centre for Micro-Photonics at the Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, Australia, created a new material that could lead to new discs that can store 10,000 times more data than your average DVDs.The material is made up of layers of gold nanorods suspended in clear plastic spun flat on a glass substrate. Multiple data patterns can be written and read within the same area in the material without interfering with each other. Using three wavelengths and two polarizations of light, the Australian researchers have written six different patterns within the same area. They’ve further increased the storage density to 1.1 terabytes per cubic centimeter by writing data to stacks of as many as 10 nanorod layers. In a paper published online today in the journal Nature, Gu’s group reports recording speeds of about a gigabit per second.
The picture to the right shows 6 patterns written in the same area of the nanorods using three different color and two different polarization of lasers: Link (Photo credit: Nature Publishing Group)
(Image: Zettl Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California at Berkeley)
- Berkeley (yay! My alma mater) researcher Alex Zettl and colleagues created a physical memory cell composed of an iron nanoparticle that can be moved back and forth in a nanotube. The position of the iron particle represents the state of the bit, which leads to very dense and highly stabile memory arrays, resulting in very long lifetime: LinkHow stable is stable? Here’s a chart that shows typical storage lifetimes vs bit density for a variety of storage media. As you can see, his stuff beats rock!
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The whole reason for the trip was today. The tour of the Steinway factory was excellent and happened way too fast. We only got three hours of tour before we met for pizza and departed. The rim bending room was exciting to see, of course. The floor where action parts are made was fascinating as the guide pointed out that it was the last piano action parts maker left in the USA. We were given small pieces of expensive veneer. I don’t know what I can do with it but whatever. Next year’s tour is already being anticipated.
After the tour we had a few hours to kill. First order of business was a backpack for Leah. Eastern Mountain Supply had the latest of the best days packs, as expected. Leah found a good deal.
Well we had more time to kill and needed some coffee (decaf, lol). We knew of one place that we liked in all of NYC so far. Back to Greenwich Village. There’s this shop called Murray’s. Cheeses and meats and bread of high quality and mostly reasonable prices. The store had a good vibe too. Journey food was purchased and we hopped our bus back to Boston. A grand trip.
The Grand New York Trip.
Murray's on Bleecker St. (Greenwich Village, NYC)
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This morning started with waking up at 8ish but staying in bed for a few hours. Finally we get to H&H Bagel around noon time. I had a sesame bagel with a coffee. We crossed the street and sat on a bench looking at this…
I'm sitting on a bench looking at this while I have my bagel and coffee.
After the Bagel we walk up 11th ave and get to see the Daily Show studio.
on the corner of the Daily Show studio building is a tile store. Hilarious.
There was a cliff bar stop (I got this and Leah got this) and a starbucks stop on our way to central park. While walking through central park I regret that I didn’t catch a photo of the AIDS walk we came across. People cheering. Delta was there. I hate Delta. I’m cool with AIDS awareness.
The Strawberry Fields… we were unimpressed. We got distracted by this bird with a great personality… then we decide to go to the Natural History Museum. Stayed until it closed.
we mostly saw human culture exhibits
On our way to Times Square we got a hot dog. We were so hungry and so tired and our metabolism is so high that we walked off the hot dog by the time we reached Columbus Circle… Got a streewise map (awesome maps) and Leah got reading glasses at the Penn Station Border’s bookstore.
Dinner was in Greenwich Village at the Cornelia cafe. It was a perfect end to a fabulous day. The night was beautiful and inside it was cozy. The food was delicious. Of course, we had to get frozen yogurt after dinner. Pistachio and Vanilla…
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I loved coming here just to hang out…
