Abstract

Most successful recordable-CD media (CD-R) to date are based on a design suggested by Hamada et al⁽¹⁾. In this design the CD-R disc is constructed using a polycarbonate substrate, a lightly absorbing recording layer, and a gold reflector. The recording layer needs to have a unique set of optical properties: high n and low k. This is achieved currently by using the anomalous dispersion effect (Kramers-Kronig relation) in dyes having the trailing edge of absorption near the operating wavelength of 780 nm⁽²⁾. Using this principle⁽³⁾, most CD-R media today are based on two classes of dye, cyanine and phthalocyanine.

© 1996 Optical Society of America