Shanghai Institute Of Optics And Precision Machinery (SIPM) Makes Breakthrough in Ultra-large Capacity Super-resolution 3D Optical Storage Research

Recently, the Shanghai Institute of Optical Precision Machinery (SIPM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in cooperation with Shanghai Institute of Technology (SIT) and other research institutions, has made a breakthrough in ultra-large-capacity super-resolution three-dimensional optical storage research. The research team used the international first dual-beam regulated aggregation-induced luminescence super-resolution optical storage technology, the first time in the information writing and reading out of the experimental breakthrough in the diffraction limit of the limit, the realization of the point size of 54nm, 70nm spacing of the super-resolution of the data storage, and completed a 100-layer multi-layer record, the equivalent capacity of a single disk up to the level of Pb, China's breakthrough in the field of information storage of key core technologies, and achieve the sustainable development of digital economy, the research team has made progress in the research of ultra-large capacity ultra-resolution three-dimensional optical storage. It is of great significance for China to break through the key core technology in the field of information storage and realize the sustainable development of digital economy. The research results were published on February 22, 2024 in the journal Nature. The first author of the paper is Dr. Hao Ruan of Shanghai Institute of Optical Machinery (SIOM), and the corresponding authors are Academician Min Gu, Director of Photonic Chip Research Institute of Shanghai Institute of Technology (SIT), and Prof. Jing Wen of Shanghai Institute of Technology (SIT). Dr. Zhao Miao, a postdoctoral fellow of SIPM, and Prof. Wen Jing of Shanghai Institute of Technology (SIT) are the joint first authors of the paper.
Optical storage technology has the unique advantages of being green, energy-saving, safe and reliable, with a life span of 50-100 years, which is very suitable for long-term low-cost storage of massive data. However, due to the limitation of the diffraction limit, the maximum capacity of traditional commercial optical disks is only in the order of one hundred gigabytes (GB). In the era of big data with increasing amount of information, breaking through the diffraction limit, reducing the size of the information point, and increasing the storage capacity of a single disk have long been the unremitting pursuit of the field of optical storage.
In 1994, German scientist Prof. Stefan W. Hell proposed the excited radiation loss microscopy technology, which proved for the first time that the optical diffraction limit can be broken, and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2014. After more than 20 years of development, optical super-resolution results have been realized in a number of fields such as micro-imaging, laser nano-direct writing and so on, and the super-resolution writing of information has been solved. However, traditional dyes are highly susceptible to fluorescence burst in the aggregated state, resulting in the loss of information, and there is also the difficulty of being annihilated by background noise at the nanoscale, which leads to the difficulty of reading out the super-resolved information, and usually relies on the readout of electron microscope scanning, which restricts the application of super-resolution technology in the field of optical storage. Therefore, the development of synchronous realization of super-resolution writing, super-resolution reading, three-dimensional storage and long-life media is more than 10 years in the field of optical storage research problems to be solved.
In the 1980s, the Shanghai Institute of Optical Machinery Gan Fuxi academician pioneered the research of China's digital optical disk storage technology, the research team has been plowing into the field of optical storage. Relying on the rich research foundation and innovative technology solutions, based on dual-beam super-resolution technology and aggregation-induced luminescence storage media, in the information writing and reading have broken through the diffraction limit of the limit, the realization of the point size of 54 nm, the road spacing of 70 nm super-resolution data storage, and completed a 100-layer multilayer record, the equivalent capacity of a single disk is about 1.6 Pb. After accelerated testing of the aging of the optical disc media life of more than 40 years, accelerated repeated reads Greater than 40 years, accelerated repeat reading fluorescence contrast is still as high as 20.5:1. This is the first time in the world to realize the Pb level of ultra-large-capacity optical storage, the reviewer's high evaluation: "This is a breakthrough innovation of Pb-level optical storage technology..." "Compared with other existing technologies, this technology provides the highest optical storage surface density in terms of performance...""The research results may lead to a breakthrough in data center archival data storage, solving the storage technology challenges of large capacity and energy saving ...".
Everything from optical microscopy to optical storage technology is limited by the optical diffraction limit. Among the 125 most cutting-edge scientific problems in the world released by Science in 2021, breaking the diffraction limit is even higher in the field of physics. The successful development of this super-resolution optical disk breaks through this physics problem in both information writing and reading, which helps China to break through key core technologies in the field of storage, and will play a major role in the big data digital economy to meet the major needs in the field of information industry.
In the future, the research team will accelerate the original innovation and key technology research, promote the integration and industrialization of ultra-large-capacity optical storage, and expand its cross-application in the field of optical micro-imaging, optical display, optical information processing, to produce more and more excellent innovative results.
The research work has been supported by the major projects of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission and the National Key R&D Program.

Figure 1 Schematic diagram of Pb-grade optical disk preparation and read/write mode

Figure 2 Super-resolution information recording results

Figure 3 100-layer recording and binary code decoding recovery results

Figure 4 Physical photo of optical disk