Patent ID: 6356516
Filing Date: 2002-03-12
Classification: G11B,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
A reproducing method for information recorded on a magneto-optical recording medium comprising:a magnetic reproducing layer having an easy direction of magnetization in a plane at room temperature and having an easy direction of magnetization perpendicular to a plane defined by said reproducing layer at a temperature Ts or higher, said temperature Ts being defined as a temperature at which said direction of magnetization of said magnetic reproducing layer changes from an in-plane direction to a perpendicular direction; a nonmagnetic intermediate layer laminated on said reproducing layer; and a magnetic recording layer laminated on said nonmagnetic intermediate layer, said recording layer having an easy direction of magnetization perpendicular to a plane defined by said recording layer; wherein said nonmagnetic intermediate layer is configured to allow a magnetostatic bond between said recording layer and said reproducing layer; said reproducing method comprising the steps of: directing a laser beam onto said recording medium while applying a bias magnetic field to heat said recording medium to temperatures lower than a Curie temperature of said recording layer; and forming a temperature distribution in a beam spot, said temperature distribution comprising a first temperature area where the direction of magnetization of said reproducing layer is an in-plane direction, a second temperature area where HrHs+Hc is satisfied and the direction of magnetization of said reproducing layer is identical with the direction of said bias magnetic field; where Hr represents a strength of said bias magnetic field, Hs represents a magnetostatic bonding force between said reproducing layer and said recording layer, and Hc represents a coercive force of said reproducing layer.