Design and Evaluation of a Solid Immersion Mirror Using a Dielectric Layer Stack for Near-Field Optical Recording

A new solid immersion mirror (SIM) with high optical efficiency utilizing angular dependence of a dielectric layer stack for near-field optical recording is proposed. The new SIM with a dielectric layer stack was designed, fabricated, and evaluated. The SIM had both convex and aspherical surfaces with a dielectric multilayer stack on one surface and an aluminum reflection coating on the other. The front and rear surface error rms values of the fabricated SIM were 43 mλ (λ=405 nm) and 90 mλ, respectively. The rms error of the wavefront aberration of the SIM was 150 mλ.