Overview
- Microsoft Research reports in a Nature study that single‑pulse “phase voxels” can be written inside borosilicate glass by changing its refractive index with femtosecond‑laser bursts.
- Machine‑learning decoding enables accurate reconstruction of the buried 3D voxel patterns despite optical noise.
- High‑temperature baking of samples was used to model degradation, supporting an estimated data lifetime of roughly 10,000 years.
- Throughput increased by running multiple laser beams in parallel, a step external expert Peter Kazansky says improves reproducibility toward viability.
- Production cost and write speed remain the chief hurdles to competing with magnetic tape, and no commercial product has been announced.