Thermal and optical characterization of push–pull azo dye-doped poly(methylmethacrylate) thin film as short wavelength optical recording media

A new push–pull azo dye-doped polymer material has been developed for short wavelength write-once optical recording by means of a spin-coating process. The absorption spectrum of the spin-coated thin film shows a strong and broad absorption region at 400–550 nm, which matches well with the wavelength of the Ar+ laser. Thermal properties indicate that the rapid decomposition of the azo dye is in the narrow temperature range. The optical recording performance of the azo dye-doped polymer thin film shows that higher reflectivity contrast (>25) can be obtained at lower writing power and writing pulse-width using Ar+-laser (514.5 nm) irradiation. These results show that the single-layer thin film of azo dye-doped poly(methylmethacrylate) is a promising candidate for short wavelength optical recording.