Optical recording medium and optical recording method therefor

摘要

Provided is a medium having a phase change recording layer wherein crystallization of the recording layer is facilitated, and at the same time, wherein the region to be crystallized is crystallized at an accurate dimension. The optical recording medium has a recording layer 4 comprising at least one phase change layer 41 and at least one functional layer 42 in contact with said phase change layer. The phase change layer 41 in its as-deposited state is amorphous, and crystals having Fm3m structure or R3m structure are produced upon crystallization of this layer. The functional layer 42 in its as-deposited state is crystalline, and contains crystals having Fm3m structure. The material used for the functional layer 42 is the one which exhibits a thermal conductivity of 0.03 to 5 W/cmK as measured in thin film form of 100 nm thick.