Magneto-optical recording medium and method of reproducing magneto-optical information using thereof.

摘要

A magneto-optical recording medium comprising a readout layer and a recording layer has a relationship that an external magnetic field H1 is smaller than an external magnetic field H4, where the H1 is a minimum external magnetic field necessary to make a magnetization direction of the readout layer direct to the direction reverse to a magnetization direction of the recording layer substantially at the room temperature, and the H4 is a maximum external magnetic field necessary to make the magnetization direction of the readout layer direct to the direction same as the magnetization direction of the recording layer at an high temperature not lower than a predetermined temperature. Moreover, the magneto-optical disk is provided, between the readout layer and the recording layer, with an intermediate layer which inhibits an effective bias magnetic field from the recording layer to the readout layer at the room temperature. Since it is possible to reproduce only the information in the high-temperature area close to the center of the laser beam irradiated during reproducing, recording density is improved. Furthermore, since an initializing magnetic field at reproducing is not necessary and the reproducing magnetic field can be made smaller, the apparatus can be made smaller and the electric power consumption can be decreased.