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Researchers at Australia's Swinburne University of Technology today announced the development of a 'five-dimensional' DVD with a capacity 2,000 times that of current DVDs.

"By adding nanoparticles to discs, researcher Min Gu and others at the school successfully recorded data to discs using not only multiple wavelengths of light but to the polarization, or angle, of the light itself," according to Electronista. "The approach would effectively let a given segment of a disc hold data in five 'dimensions' and in many cases layer multiple polarizations on top of each other, all without increasing the disc size."

"One hurdle facing the researchers is a lack of suitable recording medium that would afford the speed needed to write to the discs," writes Computerworld's Lucas Mearian. "However, the researchers are confident the discs will be commercially available within five to 10 years. The team also said the technology is likely to have immediate applications in a range of fields, such as storing extremely large medical files like MRIs, and could be a boon in the financial, military and security arenas."

More here from Ubergizmo ... more here from Engadget ... more here from The Inquirer ... and the press release is here.