Reactive recording with rare-earth transition metal

Reactive recording was achieved with typical rare-earth transition metal (RE-TM) for magneto-optical recording. Almost the same carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) and much higher modulation were obtained by the reactive recording, compared with conventional phase change (PC) recording. By applying this recording material to a super-resolution near-field structure for terabyte recording, CNR below 100-nm-mark length signal, readout durability, and power margin were greatly improved. To identify the recording mechanism, we examined the magnetic and thermo-optical properties, finding that the film properties of amorphous RE-TM are steeply changed at similar to 773 K by crystallization and thermal-activated reaction with dielectric layers. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.