Abstract
A light source consisting of a laser diode with a metal-coated facet where a small aperture has been created is presented. The very-small aperture lasers (VSAL) is capable of more than a 104× increase of output power over coated tapered fibers with comparable aperture diameters. This extends the range of applications possible with near-field optics and increases the signal-to-noise ratios and data rates obtained in existing applications. Further, the structure can simultaneously generate light and detect sample reflectivity changes. Its application to high-density optical data storage is discussed. Using a 250-nm-square aperture VSAL at 980 nm wavelength, rewritable recording and readback of 250-nm-diam marks at 7.5 Gb/in2 has been demonstrated.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1515-1517 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
Volume | 75 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 13 1999 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)