Lucas Works to Increase Digital Storage Capacity 100-Fold With Improved PCM

Research by professor Pierre Lucas could lead to computer memories that work more like human memories.

The way digital data is stored starts with the material it’s stored on, which, in rewritable CDs and many microchips, is something called phase change material, or PCM.

Lucas, who holds a joint appointment in optical sciences, is using a grant of just over $560,000 from the National Science Foundation to improve these materials, opening the door for high-density memories and devices that mimic the sophistication of the human brain.