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Russian hi-tech firm creates vegetative data storage media excelling DVD and BluRay

The multi-layered medium consists of photosensitive data-storing layers and polymer-based layers that direct and spread the light of the reading laser

MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. Ruselectronics, part of Russia’s hi-tech corporation Rostec, has developed an optical data storage medium comprising substances of vegetative origin to excel CD, DVD and BluRay formats, the company’s press office told TASS.

The multi-layered medium consists of photosensitive data-storing layers and polymer-based layers that direct and spread the light of the reading laser.

"Chromone-class phenolic compounds originating in plants are used to form functional photosensitive layers," Ruselectronics said.

"The data storage media that have been developed excel the existing CD, DVD and BluRay formats by the storage volume, the efficiency of the method and the speed of reading," the company said.

The new medium in the form of a compact disc can store up to 1 terabyte of information and read data at a speed of 12 gigabits per second while a standard BluRay disc can contain a maximum of 50 gigabytes and offer a data reading speed of 576 megabits per second.

The principle of storing data on a vegetative medium will differ from the method used in existing optical discs. For example, the laser can store information on DVDs by burning some areas in the disc (the so-called pits). Requirements exist for the minimum size limit of pits, as well as restrictions for the number of the disc’s layers.

New data media that will be produced at the Central R&D Technological Institute Technomash will store data through the ability of the chromones to change their properties (they start to glow) under the impact of light of certain intensity. Such a disc can contain a far greater number of data-storing layers.