Opening montage of water tower and solar energy panels, man holding camera, scientists in laboratory, hands opening a DVD case titled "GE imagination at work," "GE Global Research," "GE Plastics," and "Holographic Media," a DVD spins as title rotates out over white background. Title: patent pending a video podcast series from GE. Montage continues as title appears over background. Title: Holographic Data Storage
Music In
Interior - GE Global Research Laboratory - Day. Wipe right to Medium Full Shot – Brian sitting near laser equipment.
- Brian:
- My name is Brian Lawrence. I work in the Integrated Polymer Systems Lab at G.E. Global Research.
Extreme Close Shot – Brian's hand partially in from above working on laser equipment.
- Brian (voiceover):
- I've been working on lasers since I was in the seventh grade when…
- Music Out
Extreme Close Shot – Laser equipment. Camera quickly pans left to reveal Brian's hand in from above blocking the laser light. His hand moves off screen above and reenters from above right.
- Brian (voiceover) (continued):
- I built my first helium neon laser. I constructed...
Medium Shot – Brian sitting near laser equipment.
- Brian (continued):
- ruby lasers in high school. I went to college so I could work on lasers, and here I am fulfilling my dream, working on lasers.
White Flash to Medium Full Shot – Brian standing near laser equipment. Camera zooms in to Brian's hand holding disk. Camera zooms out to include Brian.
- Brian:
- Welcome to the holographic data storage laboratory. In this laboratory we're really working on the future of optical data storage technology. And it all begins with this plastic disk. Holographic data storage technology allows us to put as much as two hundred DVDs on a disk this size. Now in order to do that we need to start out by evaluating a number of different materials that would form the basis of this disk. And we do that with the system that you see right here.
Extreme Close Shot – Green Laser System. Brian's hands in from above point to system. Camera dollies forward. Camera pans left to cube. Camera dollies forward and pans left to disk.
- Brian (off-screen/on-screen):
- What we have here is a green laser system. What
we call a diode pump solid state laser. The beam
comes out, there's some conditioning optics to get
just the right beam that we want. It bounces off this
mirror here and through this cube which splits the
beam into two paths, one that goes this way, one
that goes this way over here. (clears throat) The
light then bounces off the mirrors and is then
brought simultaneously into this disk. Because the
two beams are interfering or mixing in this disk,
you're actually recording a hologram. Once the
hologram is recorded, we can actually shut one of
the beams off and use that to read out the
hologram. And by detecting the amount of light that
is coming out of this disk, we can determine the
efficiency with which we can record information in
these materials.
Medium Shot – Brian standing near laser equipment. Camera dollies forward to blue light laser system. Brian's fingers in from above left, point to the system. Camera dollies away to Brian. Camera dollies forward to Brian's hands holding disk. Camera zooms out and dollies forward as Brian moves away and turns on light. Camera zooms in to prototype drive. Camera zooms out. Camera tilts up to Brian. Camera dollies forward and zooms into disk.
- Brian (on-screen/off-screen):
- We do the same thing here using blue light. Where
we split the beams here, bounce the light off of the
two mirrors here and bring them into the disk here.
Now, the purpose of this is to evaluate the
performance of these materials in a way that's
similar to how they would be used in a holographic
data storage system but that doesn't take nearly as
much time as writing two hundred DVDs on a disk.
However, once we've identified a material that looks
like it's going to be a promising candidate, we go
ahead and mold it into disks. And then we come
over and we put that disk into our prototype drive
assembly. And here you see a disk in our prototype
drive. Now the system looks big but, in fact, the
system design is very similar to the DVD or the blue
ray drive that you'll have in your home. All of this
will be condensed down into something that fits
inside your computer or fits inside your stereo
cabinet. This system can record information in
these disks. Up to a terabyte of information can fit
on one of these disks and that's two hundred t- two
hundred times today's DVDs. Now as we get
through the process of actually demonstrating
information storage in these materials, we start to
engage the plastics business who will be the
primary, uh, owner of this material in terms of
commercialization. And that's th- the avenue
through which we would sell the material. Today
we sell polycarbonate into the CD, DVD industry. In the future we're gonna be selling holographic media
into the holographic data storage industry. Imagine
being able to put two hundred DVDs on a disk this
size. Or being able to put entire libraries of
information on a disk this size. Or even every
photograph you've ever taken in your...
Extreme Close Shot – DVD cover, "GE imagination at work," "GE Global Research,” "GE Plastics," and "Holographic Media." Camera zooms out revealing Brian's hands holding case.
- Brian (off-screen/on-screen) (continued):
- life. Interesting?
Medium Full Shot – Past laser equipment in foreground to Brian.
- Brian:
- That's the holographic data storage lab at G.E. Global Research. Thanks for stoppin' by.
Closing montage of man holding camera, laboratory equipment, a square cylinder being lowered into liquid nitrogen, ferrofluid attaching to magnet, hands reaching into a box and pulling out OLED.
Music In
Title: GE imagination at work (logo) Fade to Black.
Music Out
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