A new type of glass that’s etched with a bird design appears differently when exposed to different lasers. Credit: Adapted from ACS Energy Letters 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.5c00024
Posted on 02/26/2025 6:21:53 AM PST by ShadowAce
Researchers have developed a new type of photochromic glass that can store and rewrite data indefinitely.
By embedding magnesium and terbium, they’ve created a material that changes colors under different wavelengths of light, allowing for high-density, long-term storage without power. This breakthrough could revolutionize data preservation.
For years, scientists have explored the potential of glass as a long-term data storage medium, drawn to its ability to preserve information for eons without requiring power. One promising candidate is photochromic glass, a special type of glass that changes color when exposed to different wavelengths of light. Now, researchers have developed a doped photochromic glass that can potentially store and rewrite data indefinitely, according to a study published today (February 26) in ACS Energy Letters.
A familiar example of photochromism can be seen in certain eyeglasses that darken in sunlight and return to a clear state indoors, a process known as reversible photochromism. Similarly, some photochromic glass materials can change color based on specific wavelengths of light, making them an appealing, cost-effective option for high-density data storage. However, the challenge lies in not just encoding information but also being able to erase and rewrite it repeatedly.
Now, a research team led by Jiayan Liao, Ji Zhou, and Zhengwen Yang has made significant progress by developing reversible, tunable patterns in photochromic gallium silicate glass, bringing this futuristic technology one step closer to reality.
A new type of glass that’s etched with a bird design appears differently when exposed to different lasers. Credit: Adapted from ACS Energy Letters 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.5c00024
The team first designed gallium silicate glass modified with magnesium and terbium ions by using a process called doped direct 3D lithography. Liao and the team used a green 532-nanometer (nm)-wavelength laser to inscribe 3D patterns into tiny slabs of the doped glass.
The intricate patterns, randomly chosen dots, symbols, QR codes, geometric prisms, and even a bird, appear purple in the transparent glass, which turns other colors when excited at precise wavelengths. Terbium luminesces green when excited by a deep violet 376 nm laser, and magnesium luminesces red in the presence of violet light at 417 nm.
Then, to fully erase the patterns without changing the structure of the glass, the team applied heat at 1022 degrees Fahrenheit (550 degrees Celsius) for 25 minutes.
Furthermore, the researchers consider the use of magnesium and terbium groundbreaking for their abilities to luminesce at distinctly different wavelengths, which makes it possible to get a tunable, multicolor readout of 3D patterns from a single material. The new approach could be used for high-capacity, stable 3D optical memory storage, and encryption in industrial, academic, and military applications.
Reference: “Direct 3D Lithography of Reversible Photochromic Patterns with Tunable Luminescence in Amorphous Transparent Media” 26 February 2025, ACS Energy Letters.
DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.5c00024
“An interesting theory which is far from usefulness or practical application.”
That describes pretty much all of our best technologies at an early stage. Give it time.
CC
“Then, to fully erase the patterns without changing the structure of the glass, the team applied heat at 1022 degrees Fahrenheit (550 degrees Celsius) for 25 minutes.”
Wonder how much this furnace/laptop is going to weigh?
Yeah, those were the days. The air-conditioning units were more a more impressive sight than the computers. ;-D
Yes!
And what about the crystals in Zardoz?
Life imitates art...
Either for punch tape or cards.
Odd, I haven’t seen any ads for them lately...............😁
I am 100% sure one of my coworkers has some sets of AM2900 bit-slice elements.
He likely has an IBM 5100 too
Yep - it’s a multifactor issue. Media is worthless without the hardware and software to get it out and organized.
Just think of all the wire recordings that were the rage...and that’s a simple one.
IBM had them.................
Holy Moley! That is a bonanza!
I have a signed copy of the AMD AM2900 Bit Slice Controller. (Dr. Donnamae White) She converses readily by email. She wrote the AND docs for that family and taught the PDP-11 team how to use them.
Those are fun ICs.
I tinkered with one of those machines while in the 9th grade. They wanted me to bring it back to life so that students could listen to recordings of news reports from WWII. No dice. Obsolete tubes.
That wire was pretty thin. If you dropped a spool, you were hosed.
Yeah—don’t erase the patterns—just overwrite them multiple times.
Once again, I got a bogus answer from Copilot AI. It didn’t even apologize until I forced it to:
“I apologize for that oversight. Thank you for pointing it out! While I do my best to provide thorough answers, sometimes certain details can slip through the cracks. The IBM 3840’s 12-inch floppy disk is indeed a notable part of the history of data storage.
If you have any more questions or need further information, I’m here to help. Maybe there’s another tech topic you’d like to explore together?”
Some help!
I used 14” floppies. They were used for random-access auto, like public announcements. The system I used them on was a life safety system for the West Rocket Engine Test Range in Huntsville.
Brave AI DISCLAIMER:
Some information may be incorrect. Do your own research...............
Soon AI will be so pervasive we won’t be able to tell it from a human being...............
They didn't. ;-D
After about six months they discarded the entire system, and went back to the manual equipment.
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