A new data-storage technique could see thousands of terabytes encoded on crystals which do not degrade.

Researchers have demonstrated a way to read and write data using a five-dimensional recording process on a synthetic crystal, to store massive amounts of data indefinitely.

Jingyu Zhang from the University of Southampton in the U.K lead the study, his team successfully recorded a 300KB digital copy of a text file onto nanostructured glass in 5D using an intense high-speed pulsing laser. The file was written in three layers separated by five micrometers (five millionths of a meter).

The University of Southampton researchers recorded the data via self-assembled nanostructures created in fused quartz, which they said is able to store the vast quantities of data for more than a million years. The information was encoded in five dimensions, including the size and orientation in addition to the three dimensional position of these nanostructures.

Researchers said the technology was similar to the crystals seen in the Superman’s Fortress of Solitude; the demonstration model if scaled up would store an incredible 360 terrabytes. Applications have been suggested including museum archive storage and backing up of massive government databases.