- Startup’s ribbon-based holographic tape guarantees 200TB per LTO cartridge
- The tech makes use of polymer movie and $5 laser to write down optical voxels
- Integrates into LTO programs with no upstream software program or {hardware} adjustments
UK startup HoloMem is growing a holographic storage system geared toward changing or supplementing LTO tape.
The corporate, based by former Dyson engineer Charlie Gale, makes use of polymer ribbon cartridges written with $5 laser diodes. Every 100-meter cartridge may retailer as much as 200TB in a write-once, read-many format.
The cartridges match LTO dimensions and work in present tape libraries with out adjustments to upstream software program. Drives operate as drop-in cabinets, permitting libraries to function in a hybrid LTO and HoloMem setup.
HO1O
The thought started at Dyson, the place Gale helped create a holographic label system referred to as HO1O. It embedded a number of QR codes in a single hologram, readable from completely different angles or mild sources.
“What we initially did at HO1O for prototypes was to make use of a light-sensitive polymer materials that you simply simply uncovered to laser mild… it locks polymer change and retains that picture,” Gale informed Blocks & Information.
This idea advanced into multi-layer knowledge storage utilizing comparable supplies.
Not like different optical approaches that use glass or ceramics, HoloMem writes knowledge as holographic voxels into polymer movie. The movie makes use of a 16-micron thick polymer sheet laminated between PET layers, forming a 120-micron ribbon.
The prototype HoloDrive writes and reads holograms utilizing a 3D-printed lens and a digital micromirror gadget.
“We’re writing knowledge pages of 1000’s of bits,” Gale mentioned. Throughput hasn’t been disclosed, though it reportedly operates at LTO-9 speeds. The drive makes use of £30 circuit boards and modified LTO mechanics.
HoloMem has acquired £900,000 in UK innovation grants and is partnering with TechRe and QStar for subject trials and integration testing. It holds patents for the optical engine, media design and volumetric storage methodology.
Blocks & Information stories: “We perceive TechRe will deploy prototype Holodrives inside LTO libraries in its UK knowledge facilities to check out the product’s efficiency, reliability and robustness. HoloMem has written gadget firmware in order that, we perceive, it presents itself as a sort of LTO drive.”
Future capability will increase could come via multi-channel recording, utilizing a number of mild wavelengths to layer knowledge. Every added channel may multiply storage with no {hardware} change.
