1Tbit 'laser optical recording medium'

In the IEEE paper BOUKNIGHT et al: THE ILLIAC IV SYSTEM, April 1972 there is this paragraph: BEGINQUOTE 1) Laser memory: The B6500 supervises a 10^12-bit write-once read-only laser memory developed by the Precision Instrument Company. The beam from an argon laser records binary data by burning microscopic holes in a thin film of metal coated on a strip of polyester sheet, which is carried by a rotating drum. Each data strip can store some 2.9 billion bits. A "strip file" provides storage for 400 data strips containing more than a trillion bits. The time to locate data stored on any one of the 400 strips is 5 s. Within the same strip data can be located in 200 ms. The read and record rate is four million bits per second on each of two channels. A projected use of this memory will allow the user to "dump" large quantities of programs and data into this storage medium for leisurely review at a later time; hard copy output can optionally be made from files within the laser memory. ENDQUOTE The "10^12" is written as 10 superscript 12, I've shown it with caret notation. cheers, nigel. Unabashed Burroughs B5XXX/6XXX fan :-) with a wistful eye to the ILLIAC IV >>>> While reading the wikipedia article on the ILLIAC IV there's a curious >>>> excerpt relating to the disk media: >>>> >>>> "They also provided a Burroughs B6500 mainframe to act as a front-end >>>> controller. Connected to the B6500 was a laser optical recording medium, a >>>> write-once system that stored up to 1 Tbit on a plastic disk covered with >>>> a thin metal film."