Much research efforts have gone into the development of novel approaches and new materials for next generation of optical data storage (ODS) devices.1,2 Current technologies use one-photon-absorption or two-photon-absorption processes to write binary data by locally changing the optical properties of the medium.1-4 Further improving storage capacity will be realized by decreasing the diameter of the data storage units, or extending data units to the third dimension. In this work, we present as simple and scalable method for increasing the data storage units by using orthogonally stimuli-responsive small molecule dyes in a film of commodity polymer. We developed a novel ODS system that can be written with thermal treatment, light treatment, or both, to give three different colors visible under UV irradiation, with resolution down to 300 μm. The flexible polymer film remains colorless and transparent under ambient light after this dual patterning or and retains the stored data after polishing with sandpaper. Such a straightforward and scalable method enables polymer films to store quaternary information instead of binary data (0, 1, 2, 3 vs. 1, 1), which has a potential of doubling information density in ODS systems.

Dual-patterning optical data storage in polymer films with orthogonally responsive dyes

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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