- Optera uses photoluminescence instead of lasers for long-term optical storage solutions
- Spectral hole burning encodes data by manipulating nanoscale phosphor lattice imperfections
- Multi-bit coding makes it possible to store more bits per physical location on the medium
Dr. Nicolas Riesen at the University of South Australia is leading the development of an optical storage archive that records data through photoluminescence instead of physical laser etching.
The technology operates at room temperature and uses relatively inexpensive lasers instead of the femtosecond systems used in some competing glass-based archives.
The initial implementation of this archive is a 500 GB proof-of-concept medium planned for 2026, and it represents the first step towards higher capacity glass-based storage.
From discs to glass tablets
A previously related technology developed by Dr. Nicolas Riesen explored spectral hole-based optical storage using various nanoparticle materials.
This work forms the basis of the current 500 GB glass tablet proof of concept, showing a progression from disk-focused experiments to higher capacity archive formats.
Optera’s goal is to provide long-term data storage with lower energy requirements, although the project remains experimental.
The recording medium used by Optera is based on a mixed halide fluorobromide or fluorochloride phosphor doped with divalent samarium ions.
This material, known as Ba₀.₅Sr₀.₅FX:Sm²⁺, has a long history in computed radiography imaging plates where photostimulated luminescence is well known.
In Optera’s system, nanoscale imperfections in the crystal lattice are deliberately manipulated to change how the material emits light after exposure to specific laser wavelengths.
Data writing relies on spectral hole burning, where narrow wavelength bands are selectively altered in the phosphor.
When a laser scans these areas during readout, the material either emits photoluminescence or suppresses it.
The detected light signal, or the absence of one, represents stored digital information.
This method avoids physical reshaping of the media, but it introduces sensitivity to optical stability and reading accuracy that independent testing has yet to confirm.
Optera suggests that it can increase storage density by encoding information through variations in light intensity rather than relying only on binary on or off states.
The project describes this approach as offering multi-bit capacity similar to NAND, with SLC, MLC and TLC style bit levels represented by different signal intensities.
Moving this concept from laboratory measurements to repeatable, error-tolerant readings at scale remains an unsolved technical challenge.
According to project documentation from optical researcher Dr. Nicolas Riesen, the proof-of-concept medium is expected to reach 1TB in 2027 and several terabytes around 2030.
These goals serve as research milestones, with commercialization dependent on manufacturing partners and cost feasibility.
Although the technology is promising, there are still several uncertainties.
Practical read and write speeds, long-term durability under repeated access, and real-world production costs are still unknown, leaving its viability beyond experimental research unclear.
Via Blocks and files
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