1. BIONIC DATA STORAGE USING HOLOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES BY KAILASH.K AND PRIYADHARSHINI.R

2. Molecular electronics and Nanotechnology is an emerging field. The use of basic building molecules of living beings like proteins that can be used for data storage, in large amounts. A new idea in which we use the self assembly property of certain proteins which can act as a photosensitive element that can be used to store huge amounts of data by a holographic process. This type of storage may hold the key to incalculable benefits to humanity by speeding up the computer revolution. WHY BIONIC STORAGE ?

3. HOW BIONIC STORAGE IS ACCOMPLISHED ? Bionic storage can be realized by a technique known as Holography. Data can be recorded onto or read from a protein based medium through standard holographic techniques. This recent trend, is a breakthrough in conventional storage, in a way that goes beyond surface recording, to recording through the volume of the protein medium.

4. HOLOGRAPHY Holography allows a million bits of data to be written and read in parallel with a single flash of light. This enables transfer rates significantly higher than current optical storage devices. High storage densities, fast transfer rates, with durable, reliable, organic storage media like proteins, make holography poised to become a compelling choice. Flexibility of the technology allows for the development of a wide variety of holographic storage products of wide range. One can imagine 2GB of data on a thumb’s finger nail or up to 5GB of data on single strand of non-biodegradable protein of a size of a postage stamp.

5. PROTEIN – THE NEW STORAGE MEDIA The major challenge to implementing holographic storage has been the development of a suitable protein as the storage medium. Recent studies, claim to have demonstrated that protein derived from the enamel of a rodent’s tooth could be used to make data storage a thousand times more powerful than those in use today.

6. A protein called ‘Amelogenin’ from rodents’ tooth enamel, was found that it could not only withstand the engineering required to make data storage chips but also remained stable under working conditions. Also, proteins could be used for reading and writing data using lasers and offered enormous amounts of memory. A chip made from ‘Amelogenin’ also increases processing speed as its capability to alternate between open and shut states in a few trillionths of a second—a 1000-fold improvement, offering tetrabytes instead of the currently-available gigabytes of memory.

7. HOW IS DATA RECORDED ? Light from a single laser beam is split into two beams, the signal beam (which carries the data) and the reference beam. The hologram is formed where these two beams intersect in the recording medium. The process for encoding data onto the signal beam is done by using a device called spatial light modulator (SLM).

8. The SLM translates the electronic data of 0’s and 1’s into an optical "checkerboard" pattern of light and dark pixels. The data is arranged in an array or page of around a million bits. The exact number of bits is determined by the pixel count of the SLM. At the point of intersection of the reference beam and the data carrying signal beam, the hologram is recorded in the light sensitive protein storage medium. A chemical reaction that occurs, causing the hologram to be stored. By varying the reference beam angle, wavelength, or media position many different holograms can be recorded in the same volume of material.

9. HOW IS DATA READ? For reading the data, the reference beam deflects off the hologram thus reconstructing the stored information. This hologram is then projected onto a detector that reads the data in parallel. This parallel read out of data provides holography with its fast transfer rates.

10. PROPOSED HOLOGRAPHIC DATA STORAGE SYSTEM

11. MERITS OF HOLOGRAPHIC STORAGE

12. CONCLUSION Substantial advances in protein recording media, recording methods, and the demonstrated densities described here coupled with the recent commercial availability of system components remove many of the obstacles that previously prevented the practical consideration of holographic data storage and greatly enhance the prospects for holography to become a next- generation storage technology. These biochips need more development before they are ready for commercial use. However, a prototype of hybrid protein can be planned to bring the bionic storage of data —a perennial fantasy of science fiction writers—a lot closer to reality.

13. Article on Organic Electronics: “Moving the frontiers of electronics”, from the magazine ‘Electronics for you’. Article on Molecular electronics and Nanotechnology – www.efymag.comwww.efymag.com Holography Storage Basics – www.inphase.tech.comwww.inphase.tech.com REFERENCES