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High NA Lenses (SIL) for Optical Data Storage Made of Synthetic Single Crystal Diamond

CUIJK, The Netherlands, Aug. 19 /CNW/ - At the heart of the increase in the density of data storage is the ability to produce small lenses that operate at short wavelengths. These Solid-Immersion Lenses (SILs) conform to tight tolerances on diameter, thickness, surface form and roughness at a diameter of 1.0mm or smaller. Element Six announces the development of a process that can obtain the required form accuracy in 1mm Synthetic Single Crystal Diamond spheres. This new process has improved the accuracy of the lenses by a factor 10 compared to earlier techniques.

Since the introduction of the compact disk in 1985, it has become the standard storage medium for music, digital photography, computer data and games. As the demand for disk capacity increases, future generations of optical media will need significantly higher storage capacities. This trend is seen in DVD and its successor the Blu-Ray disk. Diamond lenses are a crucial component of the next generation of storage technology. Diamond lenses will enable a storage capacity of up to 1TB (1000 Giga Bytes) per disc.

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