Long-term optical information storage in glass with ultraviolet-light-preprocessing-induced enhancement of the signal-to-noise ratio
Zhuo Wang, Bo Zhang, Dezhi Tan, Jianrong Qiu
Abstract
This Letter describes the realization of long-term optical information storage in glass using an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We show that the photo-oxidation of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">E</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">u</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ions in the glass matrix induced by ultraviolet light suppresses background signals, thereby enhancing by tenfold the SNR of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">E</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">u</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ions photoluminescence (PL) of the dots written by a femtosecond (fs) laser. Thus, smaller dots exhibiting weak PL emission can be detected. In addition, the stored information shows excellent stability under the light irradiation with the power density up to <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>240</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">W</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">c</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . Accelerated-aging experiments indicate that the stored data can retain stability for more than 115 years at room temperature. The optical storage capacity is approximately <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>270</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">G</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">b</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">i</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">t</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thinmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">c</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . This technique enables long-term, high-capacity data storage in glass media.