A workable atomic memory that uses individual atoms to store information has been developed by physicists for the first time.
"The difference between a one and a zero is represented by a single atom," says Franz Himpsel of the University of Wisconsin.
Current hard drives use millions of atoms to store each individual bit of information. In contrast, the new system could be used to squeeze millions
of times more data on to a disk of comparable size.
This represents a density equivalent to 250 terabits of data per square inch, although only a few dozen bits were actually stored in the
demonstration. The atomic memory drive mimics a conventional hard drive, meaning it can be formatted and data could be written to it and read from
it.
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