Erasable laser recording in an organic dye-binder optical disk medium

Abstract

Erasability in an overcoated organic dye-binder medium has been demonstrated. With thin (∼50 nm) overcoats on such media, a laser pulse forms a pit in the dye-binder layer, while the overcoat forms a dome over the pit. Information is erased by heating the rim material with low laser power which fills the recorded pit. During recording into a thickly (∼300 nm) overcoated recording medium, material flow occurs from the trailing edge towards the leading edge of the mark. Results of modeling, observations of pit morphology, evidence of long-term stability, and measurements of optical disk performance are presented for thinly and thickly overcoated erasable organic dye-binder layers.