Sub-diffraction optical writing information bits: towards a high-capacity optical disk for Big Data

Researchers at USST, RMIT and NUS have overcome Abbe's diffraction barrier by using earth-rich lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles and graphene oxide flakes. Sub-diffraction information bits have been written in the nanocomposite using upconversion nanoparticles to reduce graphene oxide flakes through upconversion resonance energy transfer upon engineered illumination. A much-improved data density has been achieved for an estimated storage capacity of 700 TB on a 12-cm optical disk, comparable to a storage capacity of 28,000 Blu-ray disks.