CHARACTERIZATION OF ERASABLE INORGANIC PHOTOCHROMIC MEDIA FOR OPTICALDISK DATA-STORAGE

Optical recording characteristics of an ion-exchanged inorganic photoc hromic media is investigated. The experiments show that the ion-exchan ged recording layer can support high data recording density with excel lent optical readout contrast. Its recording speed at available red di ode laser power can be comparable and even faster than most CD-erasabl e drives. A focused UV light or electron beams can erase the recorded data on the ion-exchanged layer and facilitate further data rewriting by focused laser beams. The recording medium has excellent thermal sta bility and supports nondestructive data readout for erasable optical d ata storage applications. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S00 21-8979(98)05905-2].