Abstract

An erasable Compact Disc is a disc that, after the recording process is complete, satisfies the specifications for a Compact Disc [1]: only if it does so can it be considered truly ‘backward compatible’. The standard contains two key specifications for the signal written into the disc: the reflectivity of unwritten regions must be over 70%, and the signal modulation as measured by a Compact Disc player must be 60% or over. The writing process, although not specified for backward compatibility, should allow normal CD data rates, most simply through Direct Overwrite (DOW) at a linear velocity of 1.2-1.4 m/s.

© 1994 Optical Society of America