5D glass storage ‘memory crystals’ promise up to 13.8 billion years of data storage resilience, which is roughly the age of the universe — crams 360 terabytes into 5-inch glass disc with femtosecond laser

SPhotonix says it has moved its so-called 5D Memory Crystal technology out of the lab and closer to real-world deployment, outlining plans to pilot glass-based cold storage systems in data centers over the next two years, according to remarks made during an interview with The Register. The UK start-up, spun out of research at the University of Southampton and founded in 2024, made the announcement alongside details of its first round of external funding.

The company’s storage medium is a fused silica glass platter, written using a femtosecond laser that encodes data in nanoscale structures. Information is stored across five dimensions: three spatial coordinates (x, y, z), plus the orientation and intensity of the nanostructures, which are read back optically using polarized light. SPhotonix claims a single 5-inch glass disc can hold up to 360TB of data, with the media designed to be stable for 13.8 billion years — the estimated age of the universe — assuming there are no external mishaps along the way.