“HVD” stands for “Holographic Versatile Disc.” Holographic memory holds a huge amount of data — many times more than any DVD or CD on the market today.
Although it’s billed as “the future” of video and sound recording, holographic memory has actually been around for a long time. It hasn’t been sold commercially thus far, however. For most of its existence, it’s simply been too complex and costly to mass-produce. However, recent advances suggest that may change.
Holograms are three-dimensional images made with intersecting light beams. To create one, you split a single beam into a reference beam and an information beam. The reference beam stays unchanged, while the information beam passes through a transparent image. When light passes through an image in this way, it essentially records it in its wavelengths.
When the information beam intersects with the reference beam, a light interference pattern is created. If you record this pattern in a photosensitive medium, you have stored it for later retrieval.
HVD’s have far more storage space than DVD’s. That’s because they can store information in overlapping patterns, while DVD’s can only store information side-by-side. In addition, HVD’s can transfer information much more quickly—over sixty thousand bits in a single pulse of light, whereas DVD’s can only offer one bit per pulse.
Optware, the company developing HVD’s, has made several advances to simplify the reading, writing, and manufacturing process. But HVD’s are not yet ready for the consumer market—the initial cost for a single disc may be over $100 USD.
That’s a bit expensive for most consumers, but Optware is hoping that businesses will bite. HVD is ideal for archiving and information storage, and after a few years, the technology will likely be ready for the consumer marketplace.