A special issue on Optical Storage

The use of optics for data storage could trace back to 40 years ago when the researchers explored the possibilities of optical technology to record and playback audio signals. Optical storage devices have great advantages in low cost, high reliability and good compatibility, which make them suitable for data backup, digital publications, audio & visual products, and so on. To meet with the increasing demand for information storage in the era of big data, optical storage technologies are actively involved in continuous improvement of ultra-high densities and data transfer rates. Several promising technologies have grained growing interest, such as holographic data storage (HDS), multi-layer optical storage, multi-dimensional optical storage and super-resolution near-field structure (super-RENS) optical storage, they are with great expectations because they utilize the volume of optical materials to store information and show great potentials in capacity, density and speed. These technologies, emerging with the revival of optical storage, are now providing a platform for people from both academic and industrial fields to overcome the challenges and realize the practical applications for next generation optical data storage in near future. In this "Special Issue on Optical Storage", 5 review articles and 3 research articles are specially presented, which covers the research frontiers in relevant subjects.