March 18, 2015

Nano piano concept: Arrays of gold, pillar-supported bowtie nanoantennas (bottom left) can be used to record distinct musical notes, as shown in the experimentally obtained dark-field microscopy images (bottom right). These particular notes were used to compose "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." (Credit: University of Illinois)

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com @ParkstBrett

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently open the door new information processing and storage by have demonstrating the first-ever recording of optically-encoded audio onto a miniscule structure called a non-magnetic plasmonic nanostructure.

The chips dimensions are roughly equivalent to the thickness of human hair, explained lead researcher Kimani Toussaint, an associate professor of mechanical science and engineering.

According to an article published in the journal Scientific Reports, Toussaints team utilized an array of novel gold, pillar-supported bowtie nanoantennas (pBNAs) to store sound and audio files. The report noted that the storage capacity of pBNAs is around 5,600 times bigger than the magnetic film used for analog data storage.

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Arrays of gold, pillar-supported bowtie nanoantennas can be used to record distinct musical notes. (Credit: University of Illinois)

Data storage is one interesting area to think about, Toussaint said. For example, one can consider applying this type of nanotechnology to enhancing the niche, but still important, analog technology used in the area of archival storage such as using microfiche.

In addition, our work holds potential for on-chip, plasmonic-based information processing, Toussaint added.

More here:

Nano piano's melody could mean storage breakthrough