3D Optical data storage is demonstrated in co‐extruded multilayer films using organic materials. Co‐extrusion is able to produce films on a much larger scale at a much lower cost than current methods. The material compatibility and mechanical flexibility allow for new data formats with higher capacities to be realized.
, Kenneth D. Singer and co‐workers demonstrate optical data storage in a multilayered co‐extruded film. Patterns are written in 23 dye‐doped active layers interleaved with transparent buffer layers. The media is produced at low cost with a small layer spacing, allowing large densities to be recorded. In the foreground of the Inside Cover image a large area roll of film and a selection of recorded patterns is shown.
Recently a melt-processed blend of 1,4-bis(α-cyano-4-octadecyloxystyryl)-2,5-dimethoxybenzene (C18-RG) dye and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) has been demonstrated as a promising 3-dimentional optical data storage (ODS) medium 1 . ODS in this novel system relies on the laser-induced switching of the aggregation state of the excimerforming fluorescent dye in the inert host polymer. Here we investigate the mechanism and the time scales involved in the writing process. The optical writing was realized by the laser-induced localized excimer to monomer conversion and was characterized by the emergence of the monomer fluorescence. We obtained the dependence of the excimer to monomer conversion on the writing time. Our result indicates that the effective optical writing time is controlled by heating and cooling time of the host polymer and the excimer-to-monomer conversion time. The effective laser writing time, under the specific writing conditions employed in our experiments, is on the order of 10 ms.
New approaches for optical data storage (ODS) applications are needed to meet the future requirements of applications in multimedia, archiving, security, and many others. Commercial data storage technologies are moving to threedimensional (3D) materials, but the capacity is limited by the fabrication cost and the number of layers that can be addressed using the reflection-based storage mechanism. We demonstrate here storage systems based on co-extrusion of multilayer (ML) films that can overcome these problems. The organic roll-to-roll films produced can easily be produced hundreds of meters in length, in a far simpler and cheaper manner than current manufacturing methods such as spin coating and lamination. The medium consists of alternating active and buffer layers, and data storage is demonstrated by writing images in 23 layers of 78 µm thick films by fluorescence (FL) quenching of an organic dye. The areal data resolution is at the diffraction limit of the CW Blu-ray (BR) laser employed, and the co-extrusion technique allows for small layer spacings, leading to a total bit density 1.2 Tb/cm 3 . We anticipate materials already demonstrated successful for 3D ODS will be adapted to this technique, as well as new systems developed, to take full advantage of this medium.
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