Method of optically scanning an information plane and optical record carriers and scanning apparatuses suitable for use of said method.

摘要

When scanning an optical record carrier with a diffraction-limited scanning spot (S), the size of the effective scanning spot (S min ) can be considerably reduced by utilising the energy distribution within the scanning spot (S) in combination with a non-linear optical layer (22) in the record carrier (1) so that the resolution is increased both during reading and during writing.