The Blu-ray Disc Association may have just passed the BDXL specification that expands that capacity of Blu-ray media to 100GB, but the real roomy optical format of the future is being developed in a lab in Japan right now.

Sony and Tohoku University have created a laser that has a beam output that's in excess of 100 watts, which is more than a hundred times the world’s highest output value for conventional blue-violet pulse semiconductor lasers.

This latest successful development is an all-semiconductor laser picosecond pulse source with a laser wavelength of 405 nanometers (1 nm = one-billionth of a meter) in the blue-violet region. It is capable of generating optical pulses in the ultrafast duration of 3 picoseconds (1 picosecond = one-trillionth of a second), with ultrahigh output peak power of 100 watts and repetition frequency of 1 gigahertz.

What's even more remarkable, boasts Sony, is that that other ultra high-output laser devices require a bulky light source box and a specialist technician to ensure the stable operation of the laser. This technology, however allows for a much smaller lightbox and perhaps for a more automated process.

Sony said that it has already tested applying this technology in next-generation large-capacity optical disc-storage, which could mean capacities 20 times greater than what we have now.

This laser technology could also be applied to a wide range of fields such as three-dimensional (3D) nano-fabrication of inorganic/organic materials.