Time-resolved phase-change recording mark formation with zinc oxide near-field optical active layer

In this paper, an optical active thin film of zinc oxide (ZnOx) nano-composites exploited for the enhancement of optical signals in an ultra-high density recording scheme has been demonstrated. Via the electron microscope investigation, the results display randomly distributed crystalline nanograins in the ZnOx thin films. Optical disks with the ZnOx nanostructured thin films show that the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) above 25 dB can be obtained at the mark trains of 100 nm, while the optimal writing power is reduced as a function of the increasing thickness of the ZnOx films. Furthermore, by conducting a series of the optical pump–probe experiments, the optical responses of recording marks on as-deposited phase-change Ge2Sb2Te5 (as-GST) recording layers present that the highly contrast bright recording bits can be acquired with the existence of the ZnOx nanostructured thin films, providing prospective potentials in future data storage and optoelectronic devices.