INFORMATION RECORDING MEDIUM AND OPTICAL DEVICE UTILIZING THE SAME

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record information to and reproduce the recorded information from an information recording medium which has cells disposed in a matrix shape and whose respective cells have a dimension shorter than the wavelength of a light beam. SOLUTION: The information recording medium is constituted of a substrate 110, a plurality of lower electrode lines 120 disposed on the substrate 110 to be parallel to each other at a fixed interval, a plurality of upper electrode lines 140 formed so as to cross the lower electrode lines 120 and disposed to be parallel to each other at a fixed interval and an information recording layer 130 formed between the lower electrode lines 120 and the upper electrode lines 140. The information recording layer 130 is formed by using a phase transition medium of a chalcogenide series. The initial states of the cells of the information recording layer are a crystal phase or an amorphous phase and one of the two phases is transformed to the other by electrical heating. Since reflectance to incident light is different between the cases the cell is in the crystal phase state and the amorphous phase state, information recorded in the information recording medium can be reproduced using this property. COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI