OPTICAL INFORMATION STORAGE MEDIUM

摘要

PURPOSE:To obtain an optical information storage medium which can vanish information recorded once and can be utilized repeatedly any number of times by using a microcrystalline thin film for storage capable of taking two kinds of stable state which undergo reversible transition when a light pulse is irradiated under proper conditions. CONSTITUTION:Two kinds of stable state of a microcrystalline thin film are slightly different from each other in optical characteristics such as light reflectance and light transmittance, so an information recorded state and a vanished state can be discriminated as the difference in reflectance. Since the two kinds of stable state are accompanied by a little change in volume or film shape, the optical difference is equivalently increased. A material for a microcrystalline thin film capable of taking two or more kinds of stable state having different crystal structures and different optical characteristics includes a compound (alloy) consisting of 20-60 atomic% indium and 40-80 atomic% antimony.