High capacity and access rate, data storage using laser communications

Abstract. The amount of data in the world is expanding exponentially. About 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last two years, and almost 5% percent of the world’s power is used for data storage and computing. Lyteloop has an approach to data storage that uses optical communications to store data in motion between objects. Since the speed of light is fast, one needs very high data rates and very long paths to store large amounts of data. Data storage of petabytes, and even exabytes, is reasonable with this approach, in a format more compact than traditional data storage methods. LyteLoop has demonstrated an operating system using fiber, and currently has a system operating using free space. The fiber system stores >1  Gbyte, using 2000 km of fiber, and allows us to develop data center-like writing and retrieval experiences. Multiple patents have been filed with some granted. One of the patented concepts is called angle multiplexing, a method of dramatically increasing path length over a free-space path among multiple optical apertures. This has been demonstrated in free space using two different approaches. LyteLoop can store data in fiber, and in free space, either in a vacuum or in space.