Ablative optical recording using organic dye-in-polymer films

Abstract

Ablative optical recording using dissolved dyes in polymer films has been investigated. Polyester yellow dissolved in poly(vinyl acetate) was used as a model to study the potential for high‐sensitivity, high‐density optical storage applications. With 20% dye loading, a 59‐nm film was more sensitive at 457 nm than a 15‐nm Te monolayer, and marks down to 0.5 μm were recorded. The signal contrast (R f −R i )/(R f +R i ) was approximately 0.68 for marks ablated with high‐energy laser pulses. The morphology of the marks shows a clean removal of recording material. Suitable polymeric overcoatings, used to simulate second‐surface recording situations, had little effect on the results.