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Magneto‐Optical Recording and Data Storage Materials
Author(s) -
Greidanus Frans J. A. M.,
Klahn Stefan
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.19890010203
Subject(s) - materials science , curie temperature , magneto optical , magneto , ferromagnetism , amorphous solid , engineering physics , dielectric , optical storage , optoelectronics , noise (video) , corrosion , compensation (psychology) , deposition (geology) , nanotechnology , condensed matter physics , metallurgy , computer science , magnet , electrical engineering , magnetic field , crystallography , artificial intelligence , image (mathematics) , chemistry , engineering , quantum mechanics , physics , psychoanalysis , biology , psychology , paleontology , sediment
Amorphous rare‐earth (RE) transition‐mental (TM) alloys are used for magneto‐optical (MO) recording a rapidly developing technology, which combines the possibility of achieving high bit densities with practically unlimited erasability and rewritability. During the last years new insights, relating material properties to recording performance, have been obtained. New experimental techniques, such as the observation of magnetic contrast in the electron microscope, have made a major contribution to the understanding of domain formation processes. The RE‐TM alloys have been most successful in recording applications until now. In these materials the RE‐TM composition determines both the compensation and Curie temperatures and has a strong impact on the recording characteristics. Improvements in deposition techniques and the application of dielectric layers resulted in carrier‐to‐noise ratios of 61 dB. Despite major improvements, problems related to corrosion and structural relaxtion, which lead to long‐term instabilities, have not yet been solved completely. Another important topic is the so‐called direct‐overwrite problem, which will be discussed in relation to the material properties.