Hologram Industry News

AÂ device that stores holograms using a liquid crystal film controlled electronically has been created by researchers in Singapore. They hope that future versions could be used to store large amounts of digital data in small areas, or to manipulate living cells with light.
Holographic memory can store more information than memory technologies like CDs and DVDs because information can be encoded in three dimensions, in the form of light interference. In fact, holographic data disks are already on the market (see Start of the hologram wars), although these can only be written to once.
Xiaowei Sun and Liu Yanjun at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, have now taken a step towards creating a rewritable holographic memory device. It consists of a cell - around 7 millimetres square - containing an 8-micron-thick layer of liquid crystal and polymer.
Source: http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn11964-switchable-hologram-promises-memory-boost.html

Magnetic disks have a storage density of about 37.5Gb per square inch. A US firm says it has set a commercial data storage record by achieving 515 gigabits (Gb) per square inch. InPhase Technologies says it reached the level using a holographic drive, which has a higher capacity than conventional magnetic storage media. It said the technology could eventually lead to a holographic disc that could hold more than 100 DVD-quality movies.InPhase expects to unveil its first holographic drive later this year, with products of up to 1.6 terabyte coming.
Holograms use a three-dimensional image generated by lasers to store information. The concept has been around for several decades but the optical storage technology has only become feasible in the last few years.
Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4857306.stm
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Trade in counterfeit and pirated goods cost Global Economy $650 billion annually as counterfeit and pirated goods roughly represent 9% of total world trade which was at mere 3% in 1990’s, according to The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) estimates.
In a Paper on Global Scenario on Counterfeit brought out by ASSOCHAM, it has been pointed out that the major international alcohol brands lose estimated $300 million a year. The economic impact of counterfeiting on legitimate companies in the USA is enormous and estimated at 200-250 billion dollars annually. The US computer software industry as a whole is losing between 12-16 billion dollars annually due to rampant piracy and counterfeiting. This amounts to 40% of all software industry revenues. India ranks 16th in the list of countries with highest software piracy. The US Federal Trade Commission estimates that the US auto industry could hire an additional 210,000 workers by eliminating the manufacture and sale of counterfeit auto parts.

Top 5 Enforcers (of 69) countries (2005-06)
Sl. No. Country Incidents Seizures (US$ million)
1. USA. 205 51.7
2. UK 116 31.1
3. India 87 2.5
4. Malyasia 52 5.9
5. China 43 5.3

Counterfeiting also impacts government and society at large; in Russia alone an estimated $1 billion a year in tax revenue goes uncollected.
10% of the Personal Care products traded worldwide are counterfeit. Counterfeit brand name cosmetics have been found to contain the residue of industrial solvents and carcinogens , which can cause severe skin allergies.
Japanese Motorcycle manufacturers have found counterfeit versions of their products all over the world. 5 out of 6 Yamaha bikes sold in the world are fakes. Counterfeit toys with small sharp breakable parts pose a choking hazard to children or may contain banned toxic paints or dyes. Counterfeit versions of a popular infant food were found on the shelves of major discount supermarket. USFDA later found the fake product in 16 states.

According to ASSOCHAM, the basic cause for increasing cases globally is profit opportunity and a risk-toreward balance that favours criminal activity . To date, anti-counterfeitng laws have been non-existent or the penalties imposed by most governments are vague or not tough enough to act as a detterant. Laws on counterfeiting are often unclear or piecemeal , leading to adhoc enforcement and gaps that criminals can exploit.

A recent edition of Nature journal reveals how collaboration between scientists in the U.S. and the U.K. has led to a major breakthrough in the understanding of antiferromagnets. Scientists at the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and the London Center for nanotechnology have exploited a technique called “X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy,” to see the internal workings of antiferromagnets, such as the metal chromium, for the very first time.
Gabriel Aeppli, director of the London Centre for Nanotechnology, said, “We haven’t been able to make the same strides forward with antiferromagnets because, until relatively recently, we couldn’t look inside them to see how they were ordered. ”
The internal order of antiferromagnets is on the same scale as the wavelength of X-rays — below 10 nanometres — and these have now been used to produce a `speckle’ pattern which is actually a hologram, or more loosely speaking, a unique fingerprint of a particular magnetic domain configuration.
The new experiments thus help to open the prospect of exploiting antiferromagnets in emerging technologies such as quantum computing.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/seta/2007/05/17/stories/2007051700051500.htm