OPTICAL STORAGE MEDIUM

摘要

A data storage process which includes an erasable, high density, storage medium (7) having a transition metal oxide layer where the oxide layer is capable of undergoing an optically readable chemical change when simultaneously exposed to heat and to light of a selected wavelength. An optically readable image is formed in selected regions of the oxide layer under ambient conditions which include O2 by simultaneously exposing the layer to heat and to radiation in the blue-green or shorter wavelength spectrum. The image is erased by heating the entire medium using a furnace or by heating selected portions with IR radiation.