Optical head using evanescent light and optical data recording/reproducing apparatus and method of using the same

摘要

An optical information recording/reproducing method for recording and reproducing information using an evanescent light beam includes the steps of installing an optical head near an optical information recording medium, the optical head having a semiconductor laser, a photodetector for detecting a laser beam emitted from a first end surface of the semiconductor laser, and a device for generating evanescent light from the laser beam emitted from a second end surface of the semiconductor laser; injecting a current into the laser to produce a laser beam; generating an evanescent light by the laser beam in the evanescent light generating device; and interacting the evanescent light with the recording medium to record information on or reproduce information from the recording medium.