Some researchers in Netherlands have stated that they have developed a new way by which they can use lasers to speed up magnetic hard drives by a factor of 100.
They describe the method as using ultrarapid pulses of polarized light to heat up areas on a hard disk. They then use the same pulses to change the polarity of those areas. The polarity can then be reversed, by simply reversing the polarity of the lasers pulses.
These researchers have stated that the technology is still in its infancy and still more work has to be done on it. For now they have experimentally demonstrated that the magnetization can be reversed in a reproducible manner by a single 40-femtosecond circularly polarized laser pulse and that too without applying a magnetic field.
Similar technology was also used in magneto-optical storage devices, but those used a magnetic field applied by conventional means and not by lasers.
Researchers hope to develop a working prototype within a decade.
Via: CNET
