Superman 'memory crystals' to become a reality as scientists store computer data on powerful glass hard drive



Computer users could soon be saving their work onto hard drives made of glass after scientists developed ‘memory crystals’ similar to those in the Superman films.

Researchers have used laser beams to alter glass and make it possible to store memory inside, just as Clark Kent does in his Fortress of Solitude.

They say the crystals will be able to store much more than conventional hard drives and are less prone to overheating or damage.

Poweful memory database: The process works by putting tiny dots called 'voxels' into pure silica glass which changes the way light moves through it

At home: Researchers have used laser beams to alter glass and make it possible to store memory inside, just as Clark Kent does in his Fortress of Solitude

Currently the glass shards can store up to 50GB of data, the equivalent of a whole Blu-ray Disc, on a piece the size of a mobile phone screen.

They can also withstand temperatures of up to 1,800F and last for thousands of years without the quality of the data stored degrading.

The process works by putting tiny dots called ‘voxels’ into pure silica glass which changes the way light moves through it.

These voxels can then be read using an optical decoder, allowing the user to write or delete data as often as they like.

Lead research Martynas Beresna, of Southampton University's optoelectronics research centre, said: ‘We have developed this memory which means data can be stored on the glass and last for ever. It could become a very stable and safe form of portable memory.

‘It could be very useful for organisations with big archives. At the moment companies have to back up their archives every five to ten years because hard-drive memory has a relatively short lifespan.

‘Museums who want to preserve information or places like the national archives where they have huge numbers of documents, would really benefit.'

The researchers are now working with a Lithuanian company to market the crystals.

In the Superman film series, the Fortress of Solitude was created by a crystal placed aboard a spacecraft Superman is put on to escape the war on his home planet of Krypton.

The teenage Clark Kent ends up in an ice field thought to be in the Arctic and when he throws it into the floor it becomes a cavernous crystal complex.