ABSTRACT Co m p a c t d i s c s w e r e a revolutionary product at itst i m e a n d i n f l u e n c e d m a n y s p h e r e s o f h u m a n a c t i v i t y. P e o p l e s t a r t e d r e c o r d i n g music of high quality, whichd i d n ' t g e t w o r s e w i t h t h e time as it happens to be ont a p e .

A s s o o n a s C D s a p p e a r e d i n c o m p u t e r industry they immediatelyb e c a m e a n u n d o u b t e d h e l p e r b o t h f o r u s e r s a n d for programmers. The latterw e r e a b l e t o i n c r e a s e v o l u m e o f t h e i r p r o g r a m products by adding videoa n d a u d i o e l e m e n t s etc. FMD , w h i c h c a n p r o v i d e u s w i t h a s t a g g e r i n g 1 4 0 G B o f storage space, seems to bean enticing solution for thestorage-hungry masses.Thec o m p a n y C o n s t e l l a t i o n 3 D d e m o n s t r a t e s a n e w format: FMD ( FluorescentM u l t i l a y e r D i s k ), whic h c a n p r o v i d e u s w i t h a s t a g g e r i n g 1 4 0 G B o f storage space, seems to bean enticing solution for thestorage-hungry masses.C o n s t e l l a t i o n 3 D ' s technology implements thec o n c e p t o f t h e v o l u m e t r i c s t o r a g e o f i n f o r m a t i o n . D a t a i s r e c o r d e d o n m ult iple layer s loc ated i n s i d e a d i s c o r a c a r d , a s opposed to the single layerm e t h o d a v a i l a b l e i n compact discs, and doublel a y e r m e t h o d a v a i l a b l e i n D V D s . T h e r e c o r d i n g , r e a d i n g a n d s t o r i n g o f t h e information is accomplishedt h r o u g h t h e u s e o f f l u o r e s c e n t m a t e r i a l s e m b e d d e d i n p i t s a n d

grooves in e ach of thelay ers. The fluor

escentmateri al emits radiat ionw h e n e x c ited by ane xternal light so urce. Theinfor mation is then decodedas m odulations of

theintensity a nd color of the emitted radiation. INTRODUCTI ON

Fluorescent Multilayer Disc , abbreviated as FMD ,is a data stor age mediumt h at follows th

e i d e a previou sly used inDV Ds,making mul tiple layers tog et more data on one disc,but takes the idea to a newlevel. Bec

ause the norm alreflectivelaye rs were toolim iting, making i t nearlyimpos sible to get m orethan two layers on a disc,Constellati

on 3D decided tofind a new w ay to reflectth e light that w ould notinterfe re with other layers. To do t his, they hav e adifferentfluo

rescent materi al in each la yerwhich refle cts a differentf requency of lightthan theother layer s, making itp ossible to shin

e the lightthro ugh the disc and readthe prope r frequency fo rt h e e x p e c t e d l a y e r . Bec ause of this, t he mainlimitati

on on the number of layers, besi des how many different mater ials can befou nd to be used, would beto keep the disc

from beingtoo thick.A 50 GB prototype disc wasd e m o n s t r ated at theC omdexindustry show inNove mber2000. F i r s t generation

FMDs were t o