Multilevel data writing in nanoporous glass by a few femtosecond laser pulses

Multidimensional data recording inside nanoporous high-silica glass by a femtosecond laser beam has been investigated. It is shown that three femtosecond laser pulses at pulse repetition rates up to 1 MHz are sufficient for recording 3 bits of information inside nanoporous glass, which is an order of magnitude lower than the number of pulses required for data writing in silica glass and provides a corresponding gain in the data writing speed. Multilayer data recording and reading were demonstrated providing the storage density corresponding to the capacity of 25 GB in the optical compact disc form factor. An outstanding thermal stability of the proposed optical data storage is confirmed by the 24 h long heat treatment at 700°C, which could not damage the recorded data.