Optical tape for high capacity three-dimensional optical data storage

In this Letter, a new approach of optical tape for high capacity multilayer data storage is proposed. We show that a length of 5 cm and width of 2 cm of soft and transparent optical tape can be used for two-photon three-dimensional bit data storage. We successfully demonstrate writing and reading of six layers of data storage with a transverse bit separation of 2 μm and an axial separation of 2.5 μm in a tetraphenylethylene-doped photobleaching polymer. The fluorescence intensity is insensitive to the storage depth of the photopolymer matrix. Thus, the optical tape that we put forward in the experiment can help people realize true large data storage in the future, like magnetic tape. This method significantly paves a novel way for solving big data storage problems.