Information storage is an important means of human civilization inheritance and a necessary link for social and economic development. With the advent of the era of big data, the amount of data generated by various industries is increasing explosively, presenting mankind with an unprecedented flood of data. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the global data volume will reach 175 ZB by 2025. Therefore, achieving low energy consumption and long-term secure data storage is an urgent task for the construction of digital society. At present, widely used data storage devices, such as magnetic tapes, hard disks, and solid-state drives, generally face the problems of high energy consumption and short life. In contrast, although optical storage has slow read-write speed and small capacity, it has unique advantages in terms of cost, energy consumption, reliability, and service life, and is considered likely to be one of the most important directions of development in the field of information storage in the future. As an ideal optical storage medium, glass has excellent thermal, optical, and chemical stability, and its data storage life can even reach hundreds of millions of years. Therefore, new optical storage technology using glass as the storage medium provides an effective solution for the permanent storage of large-scale warm and cold data, which is of great significance for alleviating the pressure of big data storage and ensuring the safe and efficient development of China’s digital economy.

In recent decades, researchers have continuously explored the relevant mechanisms and technical means for optical storage in glass, making significant progress. However, from the perspective of practical application and industrialization, glass optical storage still faces certain challenges. Therefore, a summary and prospect of current research are of important reference value for the future development of this field, which is also necessary.

We review the research progress and dimension multiplexing of glass optical storage in recent years. First, we introduce femtosecond laser-induced multi-dimensional optical storage technologies based on refractive index change, anisotropic periodic nanostructure formation, ion valence change, metal nanocluster/particle formation, and quantum dot/nanocrystal precipitation, including their formation mechanism and performance parameters, such as storage density and storage life. We then discuss some challenges in the field and analyze the potential of light field modulation technology and deep learning technology to improve the performance of optical storage.

Glass optical storage technology provides an effective solution for the permanent storage of information in the big data era. In summary, current glass optical storage technology is developing toward ultra-high density, multi-dimensional multiplexing, ultra-fast reading and writing, erasable rewriting, and ultra-long life. Its practicality and industrialization merit further exploration. We firmly believe that in the near future, the realization of glass optical storage technology with large storage capacity, ultra-fast reading and writing speed, and ultra-high reading and writing precision will open new opportunities for the innovation of data storage systems.