[ Return to Special Projects ] Light as a Medium for Data Storage Jason Rauscher University of Sioux Falls April 30, 1999 ABSTRACT Traditionally, computer manufacturers have used magnetic discs to create devices that allow for reliable long-term storage with relatively quick access. With these devices, greater storage capacity comes from creating more and more dense discs with smaller and smaller data clusters. A physical limit exists as a barrier to how small those clusters can get. This limit, called the superparamagnetic limit, has caused computer hardware manufacturers to begin looking for alternatives to the magnetic discs. In November 1995 IBM announced that it would be spending $32 million on a project to develop an alternative to the magnetic discs. The program is called the Holographic Data Storage System (HDSS) and is a joint effort between universities, industry leaders, and government departments. The HDSS uses lasers to store information as "pages" of electronic patterns within special devices that hold twelve times more information and have an output rate ten times greater than what is possible today, and all the information is stored in material no larger than a sugar cube.