LIGHT WAVE GUIDE HAVING OPENING BELOW MICRON, MANUFACTURE THEREOF AND OPTICAL MEMORY USING SAME

摘要

The light waveguide consists of an optically transparent body (1) at one end cut to a sharp tip (2) and polished optically flat at the other (3). A metallization (6) on its surface is thick enough to be opaque. By pressing the waveguide against a rigid plate (16), the metallization (6) is plastically deformed so as to expose a tiny aperture (28) at the tip (2) of the body through which light can pass. By carefully controlling the deformation of the metallization (6), the diameter of the aperture (28) can be kept between 10 and 500 nm. …The application of the aperture (28) when incorporated in the semiconductor laser of the read/write head of an optical storage device is described.