A prototype atomic hard disk can store every book ever written on its individual atoms that will only be the size a postage stamp when put together.

The stunning device was developed by researchers at Delft University in The Netherlands and features a storage density of 500 terabits into a single square inch. The world's smallest, this hard drive's storage density is 500 times better than the most efficient hard desk on the market.

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The experimental atomic hard drive requires considerable work before it's ready for market, however, but it proves atomic-scale data storage devices are feasible.

To build the device, the team placed chlorine atoms on a copper surface, resulting in a perfect square grid. They then used a scanning tunneling microscope to manipulate atoms to represent binary code, the language used to encode data in computers, said lead researcher Sander Otte, a scientist with the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University

"Every bit consists of two positions on a surface of copper atoms, and one chlorine atom that we can slide back and forth between these two positions," said Otte.

"If the chlorine atom is in the top position, there is a hole beneath it -- we call this a 1. If the hole is in the top position and the chlorine atom is therefore on the bottom, then the bit is a 0."

He said because each chlorine in atom is surrounded by other chlorine atoms, they remain stable and stationary. Previous attempts to encode data on the atomic scale relied on loose, unanchored atoms. Data on the hard disk is organized into blocks of 8 bytes or 64 bits.

The technology promises major stability and scalability improvements, but needs considerable improvement before it can be used in real world computers.

Otte noted that in its current form, the memory can operate only in very clean vacuum conditions and at liquid nitrogen temperature, 77 Kelvin, meaning the actual storage of data on an atomic scale is still some way off.

"But through this achievement we have certainly come a big step closer."

Tagsatomic hard disk, Delft University, Sander Otte