What is Holographic Versatile Disc?

Technological developments are moving at an alarmingly quick pace. The Holographic Versatile Disc is one of the latest developments to have hit the scene. Basically HVD is the optical disk technology for the next generation.

This next generation technology is still in the research phase at the moment. The object that the developers aim to achieve is a device that exceeds the storage capacity offered by the existing Blu-Ray optical and HD DVD disk systems.

Statistics show that an average HVD would have a storage capacity of 3.9 terabytes which translates to 39,000 GB! It will also have a remarkably high transfer rate measuring at 1 GB/s. The transfer rate is at least six times more than what we get from the DVD players of today. Users greatly anticipate the release of this revolutionary technology that is set to take the world by storm.

After analyzing the statistics it is no wonder that we find the experts calling HVD technology the technology of the next-next generation. It is the devices massive storage capacity that has forced the experts to give this statement. When compared to Bu Ray optical disk systems and HD DVD’s that have a storage capacity of 90 GB and 75 GB respectively the HVD stands unparalleled with its enormous data bank capacity of 39000 GB.

The particular technology used in the production of HVD is known as collinear holography. This technology involves the collimating of two lasers, of which one is blue-green and the other red, to form a single beam. The blue-green laser reads the data that is encoded in the form of laser interference fringes emitted from the holographic layer that is on the top. The red laser on the other hand acts as a reference beam. It also reads the servo info that is emitted from the aluminum layer like in ordinary CDs.

The real question is how the laser beams manage to pass through the layers selectively. This is made possible with a layer of dicroic mirrors that are positioned between the servo data and the holographic layer. These mirrors reflect back the blue-green laser while letting the red pass through in order to reach the servo information.

This process actually eliminates the chances of interference that could have occurred because of the refraction of the blue green laser off of the servo data pits. This has been a great achievement for the developers of this device because the above mentioned problem was one that was common in many holographic storage media of the past.

The HVD Alliance promises to end up with a device that has a storage capacity of 3.9 TB which is a far fetched dream for most of us today. Nonetheless the developers continue to spend valuable time and money on research and development in the hope to make their dreams into concrete reality.