METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECORDING/REPRODUCING MAGNETO-OPTICAL PHOTOSENSITIVE IMAGE

PURPOSE:To stabilize a picture record by the direct exposure of a magneto-optical memory device by a method wherein the picture is contracted and focused onto a block for recording. CONSTITUTION:A magneto-optical memory device 1 is driven to make a block 12 on which a picture is to be recorded face an optical lens 4. A recording layer 10 is heated by a heater 2 to a temperature a little lower than a Curie point and, at the same time, an external magnetic field Hex having a direction opposite to magnetization created by format is applied. If the block 12 is exposed by a picture 3 through the lens 4, in the parts where light intensities in the picture 3 are high, the temperatures of those parts of the layer 10 are elevated also by the heat of the heater 2 to the temperatures higher than the Curie point and magnetization inversions are created. In the parts where the light intensities are low, the temperatures of those parts of the layer 10 do not reach the Curie point and no magnetization inversion is created. Thus, recording is performed by the direct exposure of the device 1 and, when the exposure is finished, the heating of the block 12 by the heater 2 is discontinued and the temperature of the block 12 is declined to a room temperature to keep picture information stably.