Electronic quantum holography

Electronic quantum holography (also known as quantum holographic data storage) is an information storage technology which can encode and read out data at unprecedented density storing as much as 35 bits per electron.^[1]

Research[]

In 2009 Department of Physics, Stanford University set a new world record for smallest writing. The previous record was set in 1989 by IBM scientists who used a scanning tunneling microscope to arrange 35 individual xenon atoms to spell out the company initials. Stanford team also used scanning tunneling microscope, however, instead of atoms they went to a subatomic level and used electron waves to write their university initials “SU” and create the current smallest writing in the world at 0.3 nanometers. This achievement simultaneously sets a record for the density of information. Before this technology was invented the density of information had not exceeded one bit per atom. Researchers of electronic quantum holography however were able to push the limit to 35 bits per electron or 20 bits nm⁻².^[2]

Technology[]

A chip of pure copper is inserted into a scanning tunneling microscope and cleaned. Carbon monoxide molecules are then placed onto the surface and moved around. When the electrons in copper bounce off the carbon monoxide molecules, they create special interference patterns, creating an electronic quantum hologram. The projection of this hologram is an electronic object. It is then possible at particular energies to read the individual slices of this object like a stack of pages in a book.^[3] A single hologram can contain several images at different wavelengths.^[4]

References[]

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