Ostensibly perpetual optical data storage in glass with ultra-high stability and tailored photoluminescence

Abstract

Long-term optical data storage (ODS) technology is essential to break the bottleneck of high energy consumption for information storage in the current era of big data. Here, ODS with an ultralong lifetime of 2×107 years is attained with single ultrafast laser pulse induced reduction of Eu3+ ions and tailoring of optical properties inside the Eu-doped aluminosilicate glasses. We demonstrate that the induced local modifications in the glass can stand against the temperature of up to 970 K and strong ultraviolet light irradiation with the power density of 100 kW/cm2. Furthermore, the active ions of Eu2+ exhibit strong and broadband emission with the full width at half maximum reaching 190 nm, and the photoluminescence (PL) is flexibly tunable in the whole visible region by regulating the alkaline earth metal ions in the glasses. The developed technology and materials will be of great significance in photonic applications such as long-term ODS.

Keywords

• ultrafast laser
• photoluminescence tailoring
• ultralong lifetime
• optical data storage