The age of throw-away plastic computers, cell phones and other devices is taking greater shape today, with researchers from the University of Iowa and New York University announcing a new, inexpensive method for accessing stored data.

A paper published April 16 in the journal Nature Communications describes a new approach developed by the UI-NYU team that overcomes what has been one of the biggest obstacles to creating such plastic devices -- the large amount of energy needed to read stored information.

Because, even though its fairly easy and inexpensive to encode information in light for fiber optic transmission, using magnetism is the most efficient and best way to store the data, which will then be able to survive years without any additional power.

"Although it does not cost a lot of energy to convert one to the other in ordinary, silicon-chip-based computers, the energy cost is very high for flexible, plastic computing devices that are hoped to be used for inexpensive 'throwaway' information processors," Michael Flatté, professor of physics and astronomy in UI's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and director of the university's Optical Science and Technology Center, said in a news release. "So, a critical issue is how to convert information from one type to another ... converting information encoded in magnetic storage to light in a flexible plastic device."

To that end, Flatté and his colleagues successfully achieved information transduction -- transfer and conversion -- between a magnet and an organic, light-emitting diode at room temperature, without an electrical current flowing between the magnet and the organic device.

"The magnetic fields from the magnetic storage device directly modify the light emission," explained professor Markus Wohlgenannt, also from the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy, as well as Optical Science and Technology Center. "This could help solve problems of storage and communication for new types of inexpensive, low-power computers based on conducting plastics."

New York University professor Andrew Kent added that while the new research was conducted on relatively large devices, miniaturized devices would operate under the same principles, thereby opening up new types of high capacity storage options.