If they can make 1TB hard disk platters...

[Pandamonium]

I'm with jwilliams4200 on this one.

I'm no physicist, but I've taken enough upper level science classes to believe that the fundamental differences in data density come down to storage technique.

As for why there aren't any UV lasers suitable for consumer grade storage, I don't have a clue. But I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with FCC regulations, cost, power requirements, and diode durability.

 

[jwilliams4200]

I'm no physicist, but I've taken enough upper level science classes to believe that the fundamental differences in data density come down to storage technique.

As for why there aren't any UV lasers suitable for consumer grade storage, I don't have a clue. But I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with FCC regulations, cost, power requirements, and diode durability.

I guess some people are too young to remember the CD -> DVD -> blu-ray progression (I'm not pointing to anyone in particular).

CDs use an infrared laser diode, DVDs use a deep red laser diode, and blu-rays (and HD-DVD) were made possible by advances in blue/violet laser diodes. Each step was a shorter wavelength and higher storage density. Laser diodes are made from direct-gap semiconductors like GaAs or GaN (although there has been some minor success with indirect-gap Si lasers), and the wavelength of the laser diode is determined by the composition of the semiconductor. Very few semiconductors can make a good laser diode. Currently, GaN (technically, InAlGaN) is the semiconductor with the shortest wavelength that has been made into a low-cost laser diode, and that is what is used for blu-rays (405nm is more violet than blue, but that is where the name comes from). Some lab demonstrations of mid-300nm AlGaN laser diodes have been made, but none have been practical for mass production yet.

While shorter wavelength lasers exist, well into the UV spectrum, they are not semiconductor laser diodes but rather gas lasers or solid-state crystals, and are therefore too large and/or expensive to be built into a consumer optical drives.

 

[Pariah]

So my question is, if the platters used in hard disks are no larger than a standard blu-ray bd-r disc and a blu-laser offers more reading precision than a mechanical hard disk, why in the hell don't we have 1TB blu-ray discs? What technology is allowing hard disk manufacturers to stuff a terabyte of info on a single platter and how long is it before we can get this to blu-ray? I want it NOW!

In case you haven't noticed, the Blu-ray format is an industry standard. One that is over 10 years old. You can't just go changing the specs of such a widely used standard. 12 years ago, when the first Blu-ray prototypes were being demonstrated, hard drive platter density was under 10GB's per 3.5" platter.

Until the release of higher resolution televisions (UHDTV), there will be no market/industry demand for a higher capacity optical disc which means Blu-ray will remain as it is for years to come even if it was technically possible to release an updated format with a higher areal density.

Companies aren't going to spend money trying to solve a problem that nobody cares about.