The nanoparticle self-assembly technique opens up the possibility of creating metamaterials with new magneto-optical properties.

ECONOMIST: MONITOR

Data was stored on rewritable magneto-optical disks 2.5in (64mm) in diameter housed for protection in a square plastic shell.

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The immediate opportunity to have a technical impact is if one could design more effective magneto-optical materials, says Dr Murray.

ECONOMIST: MONITOR

It borrows the clever magneto-optical system from Sony's popular little MiniDisc audio-recorder to stack magnetic data within concentric grooves on the platter's surface.

ECONOMIST: Digital video discs

But Philips and Sony were only willing to rejoin if the forum used more of their technology possibly even Sony's magneto-optical recording method instead of Matsushita's phase-change design.

ECONOMIST: Digital video discs

It competes with IBM, EMC, NetApp, Hewlett-Packard and Hitachi Data Systems in the storage hardware market by selling products like flash drives, magneto-optical drives, magnetic tape drives and compact drives that are used for backing up data on servers.

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