The Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) is an optical disc technology that was expected to store up to several terabytes of data on an optical disc 10 cm or 12 cm in diameter. Its development commenced in April 2004. The technology was abandoned due to funding issues. One of the responsible companies went bankrupt in 2010. The reduced radius was meant to reduce costs and materials used. It employs a technique known as Collinear

Holography Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interfe ...

, whereby a blue-green and red

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

beam are collimated in a single beam. The blue-green laser reads data encoded as laser interference fringes from a

holographic Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interfe ...

layer near the top of the disc. A red laser is used as the reference beam to read servoinformation from a regular CD-style

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

layer near the bottom. Servoinformation is used to monitor the position of the read head over the disc, similar to the head, track, and sector information on a conventional

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

. On a CD or DVD this servoinformation is interspersed among the data. A dichroic mirror layer between the holographic data and the servo data reflects the blue-green laser while letting the red laser pass through. This prevents interference from refraction of the blue-green laser off the servo data pits and is an advance over past holographic storage media, which either experienced too much interference, or lacked the servo data entirely, making them incompatible with current CD and DVD drive technology. Standards for 100 GB read-only holographic discs and 200 GB recordable cartridges were published by ECMA in 2007, but no further holographic disc product has ever appeared in the market. A number of release dates were announced, all since passed, likely due to actual high costs of the drives and discs itself, lack of compatibility with existing or new standards, and competition from more established optical disc

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and video streaming.

Technology

Current optical storage saves one bit per pulse, and the HVD alliance hoped to improve this efficiency with capabilities of around 60,000 bits per pulse in an inverted, truncated cone shape that has a 200 μm diameter at the bottom and a 500 μm diameter at the top. High densities are possible by moving these closer on the tracks: 100 GB at 18 μm separation, 200 GB at 13 μm, 500 GB at 8 μm, and most demonstrated of 5 TB for 3 μm on a 10 cm disc. The system used a green

, with an output power of 1

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

which is high power for a consumer device laser. Possible solutions include improving the sensitivity of the

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

used, or developing and commoditizing a laser capable of higher power output while being suitable for a consumer unit.

Competing technologies

HVD is not the only technology in high-capacity, holographic storage media. InPhase Technologies was developing a rival holographic format called Tapestry Media, which they claimed would eventually store 1.6 TB with a data transfer rate of 120 MB/s, and several companies are developing TB-level discs based on 3D optical data storage technology. Such large optical storage capacities compete favorably with the

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

format. However, in 2006, holographic drives were projected to initially cost around US$15,000, and a single disc around US$120–180, although prices were expected to fall steadily. Since InPhase Technologies was unable to deliver their promised product, they ran out of funds and went bankrupt in 2010.

Holography System Development Forum

The Holography System Development Forum (HSD Forum; formerly the HVD Alliance and the HVD FORUM) is a coalition of corporations purposed to provide an industry forum for testing and technical discussion of all aspects of HVD design and manufacturing. , the following companies are members of the forum: *CBCGroup * Daicel *

FujiFilm , trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...

* Konica Minolta Inc. *Kyoeisha *Pulstec *Shibaura Mechatronics Corporation *

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...

* Teijin Chemicals Ltd. *Tokiwa Optical Corporation , the following companies are supporting companies of the forum: *Kodate Laboratory

Standards

On December 9, 2004, at its 88th General Assembly, the standards body

Ecma International Ecma International () is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit standards organization for information and communication systems. It acquired its current name in 1994, when the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) changed its name to ...

created Technical Committee 44, dedicated to standardizing HVD formats based on Optware's technology. On June 11, 2007, TC44 published the first two HVD standards: ECMA-377, defining a 200 GB HVD "recordable cartridge" and ECMA-378, defining a 100 GB HVD-ROM disc. Its next stated goals were 30 GB HVD cards and submission of these standards to the

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. M ...

for ISO approval.

General Electric

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

Global Research Centers created a holographic disc that could hold many times the data of a Blu-Ray — up to 500 GB. As the technology is quite similar to CD, DVD, and Blu-ray technologies, the players were to be cross-compatible with these formats.

References

External links

コリニア方式ホログラフィーの原理と応用展開 aka Collinear Holography/Principle and Applications
The Original Japanese Essay which get the technical details of (HVD) explained.

wit

of Tapestry Media hardware and media to ship starting in 2007 (300 GB WORM discs) with 600 GB discs and re-writable technology in 2008 as well as 1.6 TB media available in 2010.
Optware
Company that owned the creation of HVD format.
InPhase
a now bankrupt, company that developed a competing holographic storage format.
Video explaining holographic storage
– PC Magazine, October 4, 2006
Holography system rides single beam
EE Times, February 27, 2006 – interview with Hideyoshi Horimai and Yoshio Aoki of Optware Corp.
Holographic storage standards eyed
EE Times, February 28, 2006 – article about the upcoming technical committee meeting to begin standardization of HVD.

explains how HVD works.
Elusive Green Laser Is Missing Ingredient
Wall Street Journal February 13, 2008
General Electric unveils 500GB optical disc storage
{{Ecma International Standards Audiovisual introductions in 2004 120 mm discs Ecma standards Holographic data storage Rotating disc computer storage media Vaporware