Bits of Information
An image composed of over 1000 bits of information
can be stored in the atoms of a single molecule, u S researchers have
shown.
Bing Fung and colleagues at the University of Oklahoma found that the
19 hydrogen atoms in a lone liquid crystal molecule can store at least
1024 bits of information. The data are stored in the complex
interaction of the protons' magnetic moments.
Fung hopes the technique dubbed "molecular photography", could one
day be used to pack massive amounts of digital information into a tiny
space. He admits, however, that the process is currently experimental.
He goes on to say, "It's a very, very first step toward using nuclear
spins for molecular information processing," as he told New Scientist.
In their experiments, the researchers used a molecule to store a
black and white image, 32 pixels square. The image was encoded in
binary 1s and 0s that can be easily processed by a computer.
Electro Magnetic Pulse
The researchers fired an electromagnetic pulse
containing 1024 different radio frequencies close to 400 megahertz at
the molecule. Each frequency either had amplitude, representing a "1"
or did not, representing a "0". This imprinted the information on the
molecule.
The researchers were able to read the information back by firing a
second pulse with slightly shifted frequencies at the molecule and
measuring the consequent changes with a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
instrument.
Fung again states, "it may be possible to store more information
using the nuclei of this type of molecule. But he admits that the
nature of the spin interactions is not well understood. We know how
they interact in simple cases,, but the interaction in this molecule are
extremely complicated," he says.
Journal References
are:
Journal of chemical Physics (Vol. 117 p 6903)
Can Messages be
Placed on any Media?
As science expands in this arena, there may be many applications
of memory application unknown to mankind today.
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