INFORMATION RECORDING MEDIUM

摘要

A novel information recording medium is provided which records information upon the application of thermal energy, reads the recorded information by detecting the value of photoelectric current generated by light applied to the information recorded portion, and can realize multi-valued information recording or analog information recording. The information recording medium comprises: a pair of electrodes; and a liquid crystal material filled into a gap between the electrodes, the liquid crystal material having a property such that the charge-transport properties are varied according to the phase transfer between a plurality of stable liquid crystal phases of the liquid crystal and/or the history of the phase transfer.