Optical storage system.

摘要

An optical storage system (2) in which the effect of optical interference is utilized to provide information storage. Heating of selected portions of an optical storage structure (8) causes a permanent change in the wavelength and intensity of the interference fringes of the optical storage structure (8), and those changes give rise to large changes in light reflectivity positions at the initial interference tinge wavelengths thereby giving rise to an optical pattern that is readily detectable.

Changes in reflectivity positions may be accomplished by changing the optical absorption spectrum of the structure without any appreciable change in the index of refraction at the selected positions.

Preferred storage structure (8) include alloys of the Ge-Se-S-Te group overlaying a metallic layer.