Patent ID: 9530498
Filing Date: 2016-12-27
CPC Classification: G11B,G11C,Y10T

Claim Text:
1. A method of storing and erasing data comprising the steps of: providing an optical data store containing a data storage layer comprising a light sensitive material, wherein the light-sensitive material is embedded in a matrix material, the matrix material having a softening point that lies below a threshold temperature at which the data storage layer is destroyed, wherein the data storage layer has photo-inducible non-reversible anisotropy, wherein the induction of said photo-inducible non-reversible anisotropy requires a threshold value of the optical intensity to be exceeded; writing data to the optical data store by inducing the photo-inducible non-reversible anisotropy using a recording light having an optical intensity exceeding the threshold value; and heating the matrix material to a temperature above the softening point so as to erase the data by diffusely blurring the data during the heating step.