5051results about "Optical beam sources" patented technology

An optical data storage and retrieval system uses a flying head. The flying head is supported on a moving media having information stored in a plurality of stored data locations thereon. Information is stored in each of the plurality of media locations as physical structures capable of modulating the polarization state of incident light into one of two output polarization states. The flying head includes an optical processing assembly which directs an incident light beam having a source polarization state onto the moving media, accessing successive data locations. A reflected light beam having the source polarization state of the incident light beam modulated by a respective polarization modifying data location into one of the output polarization states is received by the flying head. The optical processing assembly optically transforms the modulated output polarization state of the reflected light beam into two return light beams having differentially modulated intensity related to the output polarization state of the reflected light beam. The two intensity modulated return light beams are optically coupled to a distal differential detector which outputs digital data representing the stored data information for the subject data location. A preferred embodiment includes optical fibers for coupling the incident and return light beams between the detector and the flying head. The optical assembly of a preferred embodiment includes an optical plate having pre-shaped and dimensioned recesses for automatically locating and aligning multiple optical components comprising the assembly. The flying head may also include a servo-controlled micro machined mirror for directing the incident and reflected light beams to and from the media.

A near-field optical probe has a flat support member having opposed flat surfaces, and a tapered through-hole extends through the support member and terminates at one of the flat surfaces in a narrow aperture. A light collecting layer having a plurality of reflective surfaces is disposed on the support member for collecting and focusing light passing through the narrow aperture. An optical detector disposed above the light collecting layer detects light passing through the light collecting layer.

An optical disc according to one aspect of this invention has a first field to record first version information, and a second field to record second version information obtained by updating the first version information.

An optical information recording medium includes a substrate 1 and two information layers (2, 4) formed on the substrate. The information layer is formed of a thin film showing a change that can be detected optically by irradiation of a light beam 7. A separating layer 3 that is transparent to a wavelength of the light beam 7 is formed between the information layers 2 and 4. Each information layer (2, 4) includes a sector area having sector address portions (9, 13) and data areas (8, 12) for recording information signals, the sector address portion and the data area being divided in the circumferential direction, and a management area (10, 14) for recording identification information about the amount of dislocation between the sector address portions 9 and 14 in the circumferential direction. Thus, the identification information about the amount of dislocation can be recorded, so that demodulation errors during reproduction can be reduced by switching amplification gain or slice level during reproduction according to the identification information. Also, stable data recording can be achieved by switching recording power according to a gate signal.

A thin-film magnetic head that has a configuration in which the element-formed surface and the opposed-to-medium surface are perpendicular to each other, and a light source is sufficiently distanced from the medium surface is provided. The head comprises at least one near-field-light-generating layer for heating a part of a magnetic medium during write operation by generating a near-field light, having a shape tapered toward a head end surface on the opposed-to-medium surface side, and comprising a near-field-light-generating portion having a light-received surface and a tip reaching the head end surface on the opposed-to-medium surface side, and the light-received surface being sloped in respect to the element-formed surface and being provided in a position where an incident light propagating from a head end surface opposite to the opposed-to-medium surface can reach at least a part of the light-received surface.

Disclosed is a novel multi-layered optical recording media and system for recording and reproducing information data. The multi-layered topical recording media has M information storage decks, and each information storage deck has N information storage layers, and each information storage layer has a pair of information storage structures. Each paired information storage structure has a characteristic wavelength and polarization state, and from which recorded information can be read by a laser beam having similar wavelength and polarization-state characteristics. In the illustrative embodiment, the multi-layered optical recording media of the present invention has MxNx2 information storage layers which can be read using only N laser lines (i.e. spectral components), thereby providing a 2M-fold increase in information storage capacity over prior art systems. The information storage and retrieval system of the present invention is completely backward compatible to allow for the reading of conventional CD-ROM devices.