By successfully encoding an 11-character computer password onto a molecule and retrieving the same password later without errors, University of Texas at Austin scientists have developed an ingenious new method for logging in to your computer.
Unlike previously established technologies that store data on molecules, the new process is cheaper and less prone to error. The entirely new method of data storage also resists the long-term degradation and energy consumption issues plaguing current data storage methods.
“This work validates the potential of this electrochemical sequencing technique for precise and error-free digital information storage and retrieval,” the researchers write in a newly published study detailing the process.
Logging Into Your Computer at the (Synthetic) Molecular Level
Since the dawn of the digital age, researchers have searched for better ways to store information. Hard drives and flash drives have proven mostly reliable but suffer from energy consumption limitations and long-term degradation issues.
Several methods, including opto-electronic materials, magnetizing lasers, a new class of magnetism, and even quantum data storage techniques, have shown the potential for long-term storage and can resist degradation. Scientists have also explored methods for encoding digital information into the DNA of biological molecules. However, retrieving the information is complex and costly, including the need for expensive equipment like mass spectrometers.
Curious if a similar approach could encode digital information onto molecules and be retrieved more cost-efficiently, the UT Austin researchers explored the electrochemical properties of synthetic molecules to replace the DNA in biological molecules.
“Molecules can store information for very long periods without needing power. Nature has given us the proof of principle that this works,” explained UT Austin’s Praveen Pasupathy, the study’s corresponding author and electrical engineer. “This is the first attempt to write information in a building block of a plastic that can then be read back using electrical signals, which takes us a step closer to storing information in an everyday material.”
Building a Customized Character Alphabet to Encode a Password
The team’s first step involved building a 256-character alphabet based on the ASCII table using four synthetic monomers. Because each of these molecular building blocks has a different chemical property, a four-monomer combination could represent any of these characters.
After creating their electrochemical alphabet, the team wanted to see if they could simulate someone logging onto a computer with this information. For the test, the password “Dh&@dR%P0W¢” was used, including numbers, case-sensitive letters, and symbols all found in the ASCII table.
Using lab equipment, the team synthesized a chain of four-monomer sequences representing each of these characters. The characters were placed in the same order, allowing them to be retrieved in the proper sequence for logging into a computer.
Next, the UT researchers removed the blocks one at a time. By analyzing each monomer block as it degraded, the team could measure its electrochemical properties and figure out which character it represented. Because certain polymers can be disassembled one block at a time, the team’s synthetic chain also retained the characters and the sequence.
“The voltage gives you one piece of information —the identity of the monomer currently being degraded—and so we scan through different voltages and watch this movie of the molecule being broken down, which tells us which monomer is being degraded at which point in time,” Pasupathy explained. “Once we pinpoint which monomers are where, we can piece that together to get the identities of the characters in our encoded alphabet.”
In this case, the team proved their approach’s viability without any encoding or retrieval errors. In theory, a similar process could be used for logging into a computer or other data storage and retrieval scenarios.
“We successfully encoded and decoded an 11-character password used to unlock a computer, confirming the accuracy and robustness of our approach,” they write.
Adapting the Process for Portable Electronic Applications
While the new method is cheaper and better able to resist degradation than several other data storage media, the current version still has drawbacks that the team hopes to study further. For example, the chain is destroyed in the retrieval process, meaning the encoded information can only be retrieved once.
The researchers also note that their decoding process takes time. For example, the 11-character password required the team to wait 2.5 hours for each monomer block to degrade and reveal its electrochemical signature. The team says they are already exploring methods for shortening this process, but the success of their system is still a critical landmark for the concept of this type of information storage.
“While this method does not yet overcome the destructive or time-intensive aspects of sequencing, it takes a first step toward the ultimate goal of developing portable, integrated technologies for polymer-based data storage,” says senior author and chemist Eric Anslyn of the University of Texas at Austin.
Next, Anslyn says the team is exploring ways to interface their designer polymers with integrated circuits, “where the computer chips become the readout system for the stored information.” They are also looking at scaling down the entire process to create applications like logging into a computer.
“Our approach has the potential to be scaled down to smaller, more economical devices compared to traditional spectrometry-based systems,” Anslyn explained. “It opens exciting prospects for interfacing chemical encoding with modern electronic systems and devices.”
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.