A three-dimensional nanoscale optical disk memory with petabit capacity has been developed at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to an article published on Thursday in Nature.

The research team managed to increase the capacity of optical data storage to the petabit level by extending the planar recording architecture to three dimensions with hundreds of layers, while also breaking the optical diffraction limit barrier of the recorded spots. The minimum spot size and lateral track pitch are 54 nm and 70 nm, respectively.

The team developed an optical recording medium based on a photoresist film doped with aggregation-induced emission dye, which can be optically stimulated by femtosecond laser beams.

The new technology marks the world's first achievement of a petabit-level capacity optical disk. The research findings are expected to lead to breakthroughs in terms of the archival data storage capabilities of data centers, addressing challenges in large-capacity and energy-efficient storage technology.