Non-Magnetic Data Storage Principles, Potential and Problems

Guest Speaker: Hans Coufal IBM Almaden Labs Date: May 3rd, 2005 Time: 4:00pm Location: CMRR Auditorium, UCSD [webcast] Host: Frank Talke [event website]

DESCRIPTION/ABSTRACT: To complement and possibly replace conventional magnetic data storage alternative data storage concepts are being explored. Examples are high density, low cost solid state memory, probe tip based storage schemes with atomic resolution or a variety of volumetric optical data storage such as, for example, holographic data storage. These techniques boast high storage densities, fast access times, and also high data rates. Underlying principles and the status of these data storage schemes will be reviewed and the open issues will be discussed. SPEAKER BIO: Dr. Hans Coufal is the Manager of the  Science and Technology department of IBM Almaden Labs in San Jose, CA. He manages a group of departments focusing on some of the most exciting realms of research today, including quantum information, nanotechnology, biotechnology, supercomputer simulations and holographic data storage. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in applied physics from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, Dr. Coufal spent several years on the faculty there and at the Free University in Berlin. He then spent a sabbatical at IBM's San Jose Research Laboratory, the precursor to the Almaden lab, and joined IBM's research staff there in 1981. Dr. Coufal's personal research specialized in studies of radiation-induced chemical, physical, thermal and acoustic transients, and he developed and applied many novel detection schemes and applications for them. Dr. Coufal has managed IBM's holographic data storage research effort since 1991. In 1996, he was named one of the two principal investigators of the two government-industry-academia consortia cosponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -- HDSS (Holographic Data Storage Systems) and PRISM (Photorefractive Information Storage Materials) -- which were active from 1993-2002. He was named Manager of New Directions within the Science and Technology function in 1996 and Manager of Science and Technology in 2000. Dr. Coufal is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and received the 2000 Leadership Award from the National Storage Industry Consortium for his role in managing the HDSS and PRISM programs. He is a member of the editorial board of the technical journal, Applied Physics, where he is responsible for articles on holographic data storage materials and systems. Dr. Coufal is author or co-author of more than 140 technical publications, editor of six books and holds 13 patents.   MORE INFORMATION: Shortly after the live event, streaming video of Dr. Coufal's talk will be available for on-demand viewing on the Calit2 website at http://www.calit2.net/multimedia/index.html.