High-power laser light source for near-field optics and its application to high-density optical data storage

Afshin Partovi, David Peale, Matthias Wuttig, Cherry A. Murray, George Zydzik, Leslie Hopkins, Kirk Baldwin, William S. Hobson, James Wynn, John Lopata, Lisa Dhar, Rob Chichester, James H.J. Yeh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

184 Scopus citations

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 languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1515-1517
Number of pages3
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume75
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 13 1999
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'High-power laser light source for near-field optics and its application to high-density optical data storage'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this