OPTICAL DATA STORAGE MEDIUM HAVING ACTIVE OR INACTIVE LUMINESCENT GROUPS ON ELONGATE CARRIER MOLECULES

摘要

A data storage medium comprising: a substrate; and a plurality of elongate, carrier molecules anchored to the substrate. Each carrier molecule carries one or more luminescent groups and is alterable between a readable conformation in which the luminescent groups carried by the molecule are able to emit radiation when exposed to incident radiation and an inactive conformation in which the luminescent groups carried by the molecule are inhibited from emitting radiation when exposed to radiation. A writer to and reader of the data storage medium are also disclosed.