Diamond lenses can increase optical data storage

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5 October 2005 News

At the heart of the increase in the density of data storage is the ability to produce small lenses that operate at short wavelengths. These solid-immersion lenses (SILs) conform to tight tolerances on diameter, thickness, surface form and roughness, at a diameter of 1 mm or smaller.

Element Six (E6), formerly DeBeers Industrial Diamonds, has developed a process that it claims can obtain the required form accuracy in 1 mm synthetic single crystal diamond spheres.

Since the introduction of the Compact-Disk in 1985, it has become the standard optical storage medium. The demand for increased disk capacity has resulted in the DVD and its successor, the Blu-Ray disk. Diamond lenses are a crucial component of the next generation of storage technology and will enable a storage capacity of up to 1 TB (1000 GB) per disk.

The increased disk capacity is achieved technically by reducing the wavelengths of the readout laser and by increasing the numerical aperture (NA) of the focusing lens. To achieve a large NA, a material with high refractive index and transparency at the wavelength used is needed. Diamond is the ultimate material for this application, with the largest known refractive index of any transparent material in the blue and ultraviolet region.

E6 optimised its chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process in order to produce the required defect-free optical material. The new process has improved the lens accuracy by a factor 10 compared to earlier techniques, it says.

E6 is a leading producer of synthetic diamond for industrial use. It has processing and manufacturing facilities in Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, South Africa and the UK. In addition it operates the Diamond Research Laboratory in South Africa as well as numerous sales and distribution offices worldwide.

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