Fluorescent Multi-layer Disc (FMD)

Fluorescent Multi-layer Disc (FMD) is a new format of data storage that is developed by a Constellation 3D (C3D) company, currently. Its size and appearance are similar to regular CD-ROMs and DVDs. The difference is FMD technology promises over it's rivals where a CDR may hold only 700 MB of data, and 4.7 GB for a DVD-ROM, C3D inform that it may be possible to produce FMD discs with up to 140 GB of data.

FMD-ROM discs contain has more than 10 layers each disk and fluorescent materials embedded within the pits and grooves. The fluorescent materials are stimulated to produce coherent and incoherent light when in contact with a laser which data is stored in the incoherent light.

With Fluorescent Multi-layer technology, each storage layer is covered with a transparent fluorescent material rather than the reflective metallic layer of a CD or DVD. Fluorescent light will be emitted when the laser beam hits on a layer mark. The wavelength of this emitted light is different from the incident laser light - slightly shifted towards the red end of the light spectrum - and is illogic in nature, quite the opposite to the reflected logical light in current optical devices. Data marks don’t have an impact to the emitted light, and therefore transverses adjacent layers undisturbed.

The read out system, the laser light is filtered out, so it’s only detecting the information-bearing fluorescent light so that the effect of stray light and interference can be reduced. The experimental results have shown that in conventional reflection systems the signal quality degrades rapidly with the number of layers. In fluorescent read-out systems, in contrast, more additional layers make the signal quality degrades much more slowly. Research has proven that media containing up to a hundred layers are currently possible, thus increasing the potential capacity of a single card or disk to hundreds of Gigabytes. Blue lasers technology might increase the data storage capacities to over 1 Terabyte.

The advantages of Fluorescent Multi-layer Technology:
• Multilayer disc is transparent and homogeneous
• Small loss of useful signal while passing through several layers
• Fluorescence of a separate element easily passes through disc layers
• Less sensitivity (than of CD/DVD) to different imperfections of reading devices.
• Fluorescent technology doesn't require special manufacturing conditions
• Reflective fluorescent light from any layer is not coherent, it prevents a problem of multiple interferences
• FMD-technology is compatible with CD and DVD formats supporting the same data distribution system on each layer.

Constellation 3D Inc. (C3D)

Evgeny Levich is the President and Executive Director of the company C3D. it was founded in 1995. The company purpose is to develop progressive technologies in data storage field and in production in the sphere of consumption and education. Constellation 3D offers innovative solutions in the globe of data storage and it wishful that all their products must set the headfirst high-efficiency technologies of data store. Their offices are in New-York, Florida and California, and some laboratories in Israel and Russia. There are over 60 patents possessed by them.

It seems that this technology will be abandoned since C3D's whereabouts were undetectable from the middle of august 2002. However a few firms did take licenses so we might see the FMD back in some form or another. In a way this might be a perfect example of the so called "Vaporware": hardware that is promised but never comes to the market.

The following story is in wikipedia:

After Constellation 3D shut down due to a scandal (the scandal essentially involved the prototype "demonstrated" at COMDEX 2000 being a hoax — the content was actually playing on a hard drive — the device was faked) and the company consequently running out of money, a new company called D Data Inc. (4) was formed which acquired the entire patent portfolio of Constellation 3D in 2003. The company is determined to bring multilayer optical disc technology to the market, and so has introduced the technology again under the new name of Digital Multilayer Disk (DMD) (5).

Promising to have the technology available at the end of 2006

From the editor’s opinion, this technology will be a breakthrough forth if it is succeeding to be realized so that later people may enjoying this Fluorescent Multi-layer Technology on their daily life.