WRITE-ONCE OPTICAL-DATA STORAGE MEDIA WITH LARGE REFLECTANCE CHANGE WITH METAL-ISLAND FILMS

Gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), and aluminum (Al) island films ha ve been investigated for write-once optical data storage media with th e high reflectance and the large reflectance changes induced by laser irradiation. We show that, of the four, the Ag and the Cu island films are the most useful as WO media at 800 nm. The Al island films are us eful for a shorter wavelength region. The optical and structural chang es in laser-written regions on the island films have also been investi gated experimentally. It appears that the metal-island films show grea t potential as optical data storage media for compact-disk-compatible write-once optical disks. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.