Harvard's Nano Antenna Could Create 3TB CDs

A research team over at Harvard University has developed a nano antenna that can be mounted on a regular off-the-shelf laser so that data can be written onto media at a much greater rate. In theory, this would mean that even the soon-to-be-obsolete CD could have over 3TB written onto it. The device is essentially a couple of gold-coated nano rods. When light from the laser hits the rods, it applies a force to the electrons in the gold, nudging them out of place. It gets more technical and more cool sounding from there, and I’m no scientist. But, the team seems quite optimistic. Right now,their efforts are on figuring out low-cost manufacturing for such a device. Hopefully they can get this thing going, and we can all rest easier knowing that after HD-DVD and BluRay both die, we’ll be using CDs again.

How to Burn a Three Terabyte CD [Technology Review]