Now that Blu-ray has become the dominant disc format for high definition content, the company Call/Recall, which is in partnership with the Nichia Corporation of Japan, has announced it is developing a 1TB optical disc and drive as a next-generation format after Blu-ray.  To help reduce costs, the optical drive uses mostly standard components similar to in a Blu-ray drive apart from the use of a fluid-filled lens and 200 to 250 disc recording layers using Rhodamine-type dye. 

Unlike existing optical drives, the focal length and profile can be changed by the drive varying the amount of fluid in the lens, thus enabling it to read multiple layers.  The drive uses the company's patented 2-photon 3D optical technology and features a transfer rate of around 100MB/s, which is five times that of InPhase's holographic drives.  It will also be backwards compatible with Blu-ray discs.

Call/Recall began working on the 1TB prototype for use with Nichia's blue-violet laser diodes in December 2007 and has become successful in completing tests in March this year.  While Call/Recall may not sound like a familiar name, the company was founded in 1987 and mainly dealt with researching high capacity optical storage technologies and solutions for military and commercial customers.  Nichia on the other hand is a well known maker of blue and white LEDs and also has co-developed the blue-violet laser diodes with Sony for use in Blu-ray drives.

Unlike InPhase's pricey 300GB solution targeted at enterprise storage, Call/Recall says it will target its technology at consumers, where they expect high capacity blue-violet laser-based media to grow rapidly after the analogue broadcast shutoff, since high definition content requires more storage capacity for recordings.  So far, there is no mention of availability, although a period of 2010 to 2011 is suggested depending on quickly the company can overcome all its obstacles. 

Further details can be read in this source article on The Register.