HD-Rosetta Archival Preservation Services

Norsam's High Density Rosetta (HD-Rosetta) provides analog storage of information and images on nickel plates that last for thousands of years. HD-Rosetta is patented worldwide by Norsam under exclusive license from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

HD-ROSETTA IS:

Compact
On a plate no larger than 2" square and 1/4" thick, the High Density Rosetta has immense storage capabilities: Based on a page size of 8.5x11", you may store about 196,000 pages with electron microscope retrieval between 5,000 - 18,000 pages with optical microscope retrieval.

Technologically Secure
Unlike digital data, which require medium-specific software and operating systems to retrieve information, the Rosetta needs only a simple magnifying lens to view the analog data. It will never face obsolescence.

Magnetically Stable
Since the Rosetta's information is etched into nickel, it is never affected by electromagnetic radiations as is often the case with digital data.

Physically Durable
With its magnetic immunity, a life expectancy of at least 1,000 years and a temperature threshold of 500° C, nickel is the HD-Rosetta material of choice. The nickel holds etched images clear, while resisting all of the trials that time and the elements can deliver.

Easily Generated
Each page takes less than 1/10th of a second to write. In about two hours, our automated machines can write approximately 7,000 pages. And although reading the HD-Rosetta does not require digital technology, we can easily write Rosetta pages using digitally-generated files.

Permanently Readable
Because the HD-Rosetta information is stored in analog format, the data can be written in any language (images included), and it can be read by anyone with a simple magnifier for as long as the plate endures. And because of the Rosetta's resilient nickel structure, this plate will endure indefinitely.

THE HD-ROSETTA WRITING PROCESS: Each page is digitally converted, or digital files are received by Norsam, minimized to microns and written onto the nickel plate pixel by pixel, using a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) machine. Inside the FIB, gallium ions are forced down through the machine's main column onto the surface of the plate. The gallium ions essentially knock off atoms from the surface and micro-engrave into any given medium.

THE HD-ROSETTA READING PROCESS: Depending upon how many pages are stored on the Rosetta, users may employ viewers as simple as optical microscopes to read and retrieve the etched information, or for higher densities, electron microscopes are employed. Norsam is developing a special HD-Rosetta reader which locates x,y,z coordinates. This means that a user may type in a target page number and the software will locate it, magnify it and display it on the screen for optical viewing and optional printing.

Example of document written by HD-Rosetta

Historical documents can be permanently and safely stored on HD-Rosetta plates. This excerpt from the Library of Congress' Abraham Lincoln papers was imaged from Norsam's HD-Rosetta, written at a 100 nanometer pixel size.