Hacker News: iliatoli

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 05:08:08 +0000

The scanning-probe claim is real — C-AFM on fluorographane is achievable with existing commercial instruments. The paper is a computational prediction with a detailed experimental protocol. An experimental collaborator is preparing the validation now. The 'live conditions' question is addressed in Section 5 (radiation hardness, mechanical damage, defect physics).

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 01:31:22 +0000

First PhD: algebraic cryptanalysis (Pisa). Second PhD: exact solutions to the Schrödinger equation for few-body systems (UCF). Both unrelated to fluorographane — the connection emerged later.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:51:44 +0000

The fluorine doesn't pass through carbon. It passes between two neighboring carbons through a C-C gap of 2.64 Å at the transition state. This is pyramidal inversion — the same mechanism as ammonia (NH₃), but with a 4.6 eV barrier instead of 0.25 eV. The transition state geometry is computed and verified with one imaginary frequency.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:45:01 +0000

Patent strategy is under consideration. Happy to discuss offline — ilia.toli@gmail.com.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:43:59 +0000

Author here. Some fair points, some misreadings.

The caching comment refers to the Tier 1 controller holding a bitmap of bits it has already scanned — standard practice in any scanning probe system. It's not competing with the storage medium for capacity.

Tier 2 is explicitly labeled speculative. The paper's validation target is Tier 1: one C-AFM scan, one voltage pulse, existing equipment.

The core contribution is not the architecture — it's the physics: a verified transition state for C-F pyramidal inversion at 4.6 eV (B3LYP) and 4.8 eV (CCSD(T)), one imaginary frequency, barrier below bond dissociation. That's standard computational chemistry, not handwaving. The architecture sections are forward-looking by design.

The fluorine passes between two carbon neighbors through a C-C gap of 2.64 Å at the transition state — not through any atom. This is pyramidal inversion, the same mechanism as ammonia, but with a 4.6 eV barrier instead of 0.25 eV.

Magnetic tape comparison is in Table 2.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 22:49:35 +0000

Fair question. In my case, each PhD opened a door that didn't exist from the previous position. The mathematics PhD in Italy didn't give me access to computational chemistry labs in the US. The quantum chemistry PhD didn't give me access to materials science groups. Immigration, funding structures, and departmental boundaries created the path — not a desire for credentials. The fluorographane paper is the proof that the path was worth it.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 22:05:46 +0000

Fair point. That's why the paper labels it Tier 2 (near-term research) rather than Tier 1 (existing instrumentation). Tier 1 — scanning probe read/write on a single sample — is the immediate validation target and requires no new technology.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 22:05:02 +0000

Yes — the input files, level of theory, and software (ORCA 6.1.1, free for academics) are all specified in the paper. The calculations are fully reproducible.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:59:21 +0000

Tier 2 requires near-field infrared optics at sub-10 nm resolution — that's active research in several groups but not commercially available yet. The immediate next step is Tier 1: one C-AFM image proving the read, one voltage pulse proving the write. That's $300 in materials and access to an AFM. Already in progress with a collaborator.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:58:35 +0000

Each PhD was in a different country and decade. Mathematics (Pisa, 2000s), Quantum Chemistry (UCF, 2010s), Materials Science (UTD, now). The fluorographane work exists because all three converge — the barrier calculation is quantum chemistry, the proof structure is mathematics, and the material is materials science. I didn't plan it this way.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:55:05 +0000

The paper has been under peer review at Physica Scripta (IOP) since March 25. The reviewers will decide what stays and what's trimmed. You're reading a preprint, not the final version. The tone in the architecture sections reflects the scope of the claim — reviewers may ask me to moderate it, and I will. The core physics (Sections 2–3) is standard computational chemistry: DFT, transition state optimization, CCSD(T) validation. Those sections read like any other ab initio paper.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:54:26 +0000

No lab — the work is computational. All calculations run on a Dell Precision workstation with ORCA (quantum chemistry) software. An experimental collaborator is now preparing the C-AFM validation. The solo approach is a consequence of the work spanning multiple fields that don't share a single department.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:51:14 +0000

Yes, Tier 1 is scanning probe — C-AFM specifically. Slow but sufficient for proof of concept. The paper describes a Tier 2 architecture using near-field mid-IR arrays for parallel read/write, projecting 25 PB/s aggregate throughput. Tier 1 proves the physics. Tier 2 is the engineering path to speed.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:50:09 +0000

Not a typo. Fluorographene is the sp² form (Nair et al. 2010). Fluorographane uses the -ane suffix to denote full sp³ saturation — same convention as graphene → graphane. The sp³ hybridization is what creates the bistable C-F orientation that stores the bit.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:46:24 +0000

It's under peer review at Physica Scripta (IOP) since March 25. HN is for visibility, not validation.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:40:48 +0000

Author here. The paper describes exactly this — a nanotape spool architecture with volumetric density of 0.4–9 ZB/cm³. Section 4.4 in the preprint.

New comment by iliatoli in "447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane"

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:33:35 +0000

Author here. Three PhDs (Mathematics, Pisa; Quantum Chemistry, UCF; Materials Science, UTD — in progress), plus MS degrees from SJSU and CSU. The gmail is because this is independent work, not affiliated with any institution. v53 reflects thirteen years of development since the original 2013 publication (Graphene 1, 107–109). The barrier is verified at two independent levels of theory with a confirmed transition state. Happy to discuss the physics.

447 TB/cm² at zero retention energy – atomic-scale memory on fluorographane

iliatoli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 20:08:46 +0000

Article URL: https://zenodo.org/records/19513269

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47733561

Points: 181

# Comments: 90