Electrically amplified optical recording

We describe a new optical recording geometry which reduces the laser power required to record micrometer size spots to 0.1 mW in the power limited regime. This is achieved by shifting the power burden from the laser to a voltage source which is connected across a thin-film transparent conductor-photoconductor-conductor sandwich. The sharply focused laser beam switches the photoconductor to a low resistance, and this greatly increases the electrical power dissipated in the illuminated spot. The result is an ablation of the films, leaving a pit with high optical contrast. By turning off the voltage, the record can be read with the same laser power that was used to write.