Magneto-optical disk recording apparatus

Abstract: A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus adapted to sequentially pulse-drive a plurality of semiconductor laser elements (6A, 6B, 6C) in a time-divisional manner so that spots of light (SP A , SP B , SP C ) are sequentially formed along a plurality of recording tracks of a magneto-optical disk (4) with clock information recorded in advance along a plurality of recording tracks thereon and, in addition, to generate a magnetic modulating signal (DT REC ) by combining pieces of information (DT A , DT B , DT C ) desired to be recorded along the plurality of recording tracks so that a modulating magnetic field whose polarity is reversed based on the magnetic modulating signal is applied to the plurality of recording tracks by means of a magnetic head (17).

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus and more particularly to a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus capable of overwriting along a plurality of recording tracks using a plurality of laser beams emitted from a plurality of laser beam sources. Description of the Prior Art In a prior art magneto-optical disk recording apparatus, information desired to be recorded is magnetically recorded making use of the property of a magneto-optical disk comprising a perpendicular magnetic film with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy exhibiting a great change in its magnetization characteristic when it is heated beyond the Curie temperature T C . More particularly, the perpendicular magnetic film on a magneto-optical disk has such a magnetization characteristic that its coercive force H C sharply decreases at the Curie temperature T C , and hence, by applying an external magnetic field to the perpendicular magnetic film in its state first heated above the Curie temperature T C and then cooling the magneto-optical disk below the Curie temperature T C , the direction of magnetization in the perpendicular magnetic film can be aligned along the direction of the external magnetic field. Based upon such principle of magnetization, in a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus of a magnetic field modulation type capable of the so-called overwrite, i.e., writing in new information while destroying information in a memory location, a light beam is continuously thrown on the magneto-optical disk to scan it with a spot of the beam to thereby heat a predetermined region of it above the Curie temperature T C , and at the same time, a modulating magnetic field whose polarity reverses according to information to be recorded at timing of a reference clock is applied to the region using a magnetic head. Through such operation, the region irradiated by the light spot and once heated above the Curie temperature T C is naturally cooled when the light spot moves past it, and then, the region, at the timing it is cooled below the Curie temperature T C , is magnetized in the direction of the modulating magnetic field applied thereto. Thus, micro regions aligned along the direction of the modulating magnetic field are sequentially formed on the magneto-optical disk along the scanned locus by the light spot, even if there is already formed a magnetic pattern, in synchronism with the cycle of the reference clock, and thereby, the overwrite of the information desired to be recorded on the magneto-optical disk is achieved. In such a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus of a magnetic field modulation type, when it is intended to increase recording and reproducing speed of the record information (the so-called transfer rate), it is considered well to modulate a magnetic head at a higher frequency. When it is tried to put the above idea into practice, however, such a problem is encountered that it becomes difficult to have a sufficient length of time to cool the magneto-optical disk and hence a bit error of record information occurs, thus making it difficult to put that idea into practice. Therefore, in a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus of a light modulation recording type, as it is called, in which a light beam is ON-OFF modulated according to record information while the magneto-optical disk is subjected to a recording magnetic field with a fixed direction of magnetization, it is proposed to provide an increased transfer rate of the record information by employing the so-called multi-beam system. More particularly, in such a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus of a multi-beam system, the laser beam source is formed of a plurality of semiconductor laser elements in a hybrid or a monolithic arrangement, whereby a plurality of light beams independently modulated according to the respective pieces of information to be recorded are emitted to irradiate a plurality of adjoining recording tracks on the magneto-optical disk through a common optical system. Thus, it is designed to offer an increased transfer rate of the record information by the capability of recording, and reproducing, the information along the plurality of recording tracks at, practically, the same time. However, since the recording magnetic field of a fixed direction of magnetization is adapted to be applied to the magneto-optical disk in the above case, it is required to perform an erasing process along the recording track prior to the recording of information. Accordingly, an additional processing time is required. Therefore, this design has been insufficient to be put into practice. For an example of a prior art magneto-optical disk recording apparatus corresponding to the preamble of claim 1, reference may be made to EP-A-0 275 323. In the field of optical storage, JP-A-61 9840 discloses a multi-beam recording apparatus based on a semiconductor laser that generates parallel optical beams that are condensed on respective tracks of a recording medium. Summary of the Invention The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems and it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus of a multi-beam system being simple in structure and yet capable of overwriting. To solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention proposes a magneto-optical recording apparatus comprising : a laser beam source; an optical system for focusing a light beam from said laser beam source on a recording track of a magneto-optical disk; driving means for pulse-driving said laser beam so as to successively heat the areas in a track predetermined for data storage; magnetic modulating signal generating means for generating in synchronism with the laser driving signal a magnetic modulating signal in response to the data desired to be recorded along said recording track; and external magnetic field generating means for applying a modulating magnetic field whose polarity is in response to the output signal from said magnetic modulating signal generating means to said recording track, characterized by said laser beam source comprising laser beam source elements for generating a plurality of laser beams; said optical system focusing each laser beam on a respective recording track; said driving means sequentially and cyclically switching on said laser beams in a time-divisional manner; said magnetic modulating signal generating means generating a single composite magnetic modulating signal formed by combining data desired to be recorded at respectively irradiated areas along said plurality of recording tracks in a time-divisional manner; and said external magnetic field generating means receiving said composite magnetic modulating signal for applying a magnetic field to said plurality of recording tracks. Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 is a schematic system diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram useful for explaining light spots irradiating recording tracks in the above system; and FIG. 3 is a timing chart useful for explaining operations in a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus of an embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes the whole of a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus, in which it is arranged such that a magneto-optical disk 4 formed of a transparent protecting substrate 2 of polycarbonate, glass, or the like with a perpendicular magnetic film 3 deposited thereon by sputtering or the like is driven by a spindle motor 5 to rotate at a predetermined rotating speed. In the case of the present magneto-optical disk recording apparatus 1, a laser beam source 6 is formed of three semiconductor laser elements 6A, 6B, 6C in a hybrid or monolithic arrangement. Thereby, three light beams L A , L B , L C emitted from the laser beam source 6 are thrown on a plurality of adjoining three recording tracks TR n , TR n+1 , TR n+2 of the magneto-optical disk 4 as shown in FIG. 2 through a common optical system comprising a collimator lens 7, a beam splitter 8, and an objective lens 9 so that light spots SP A , SP B , SP C are formed at intervals of a distance a (= 50 to 200 µm). On the magneto-optical disk 4, there are previously recorded clock information, servo information, and the like in a sample servo format system. In the magneto-optical disk recording apparatus 1, light beams L R reflected from the magneto-optical disk 4 are bent by the beam splitter 8 and received by a photodetector 11 through an analyzer 10 and the thus obtained photo-detected output S PD is delivered to a reference clock generator 12. Thereupon, the reference clock generator 12 generates a reference clock S CK (FIG. 3(A)) based on the clock information included in the photo-detected output S PD and delivers the same to a delay circuit 13 for a laser driving system and a magnetic modulation circuit 14 for a magnetic head driving system. The delay circuit 13, first, in response to the reference clock S CK , generates a first laser driving pulse SP A (FIG. 3(B)) which rises at the timing of leading edge of the reference clock S CK and has, for example, the pulse duration about one-sixth the clock period. The delay circuit 13 further generates second and third laser driving pulses SP B and SP C (FIG. 3(C) and (D)), which sequentially rise at intervals of one-third the clock period of delay from the first laser driving pulse SP A , and these laser driving pulses are supplied to the semiconductor laser elements 6A, 6B, 6C of the laser beam source 6 through first, second, and third laser driving circuits 15A, 15B, and 15C, respectively. Thus, the light spots SP A , SP B , SP C are thrown on the magneto-optical disk 4 at predetermined positions along the sequentially adjoining three recording tracks TR n , TR n+1 , TR n+2 for a period of time sufficient to heat the perpendicular magnetic film 3 of the magneto-optical disk 4 above the Curie temperature T C in a time-divisional manner during one clock period of the reference clock S CK . Meanwhile, the magnetic modulation circuit 14 for the magnetic head driving system is supplied with the reference clock S CK and, at the same time, supplied with first, second, and third recording data DT A , DT B , and DT C (FIG. 3(E), (F), and (G)) to be written along three recording tracks TR n , TR n+1 , TR n+2 at the timing synchronized with the reference clock S CK from, for example, a recording information processing circuit (not shown). Thereupon, the magnetic modulation circuit 14 sequentially and cyclically combines the first, second, and third recording data DT A , DT B , and DT C , with each thereof allotted one-third the clock period, to thereby form a magnetic head driving data DT REC (FIG. 3(H)) and supplies it to the magnetic head 17 structured of an electromagnet through a magnetic head driving circuit 16. Thus, the magnetic head 17 applies a modulating magnetic field HW (FIG. 3(I)) whose polarity is reversed according to the magnetic head driving data DT REC at three times as high frequency as the reference clock S CK onto three recording tracks TR n , TR n+1 , TR n+2 . Thus, it is adapted in the magneto-optical disk recording apparatus 1 such that the modulating magnetic field HW whose polarity is reversed according to the value of the magnetic head driving data DT REC is applied to the three recording tracks TR n , TR n+1 , TR n+2 where the light spots SP A , SP B , SP C have been formed sequentially, and therefore, it is made possible to overwrite, virtually at the same time, the record patterns PTN A , PTN B , PTN C (FIG. 3(J), (K), (L)) based on the first, second, and third recording data DT A , DT B , DT C along the three recording tracks TR n , TR n+1 , TR n+2 . In the case of the present embodiment, if the rotating speed of the magneto-optical disk 4 is set to 3600 rpm and the reference clock S CK is set to 15 MHz, the period of the reference clock S CK becomes 67 ns. Against this, if the pulse duration of the laser driving pulse SP A , SP B , SP C is set to about 20 ns, the light spots SP A , SP B , SP C can be kept on for the period of time necessary for heating the perpendicular magnetic film 3 of the magneto-optical disk 4 above the Curie temperature T C . Then, the modulating magnetic field HW is set to keep the magnetic field applied for about 15 ns, while the minimum period required for keeping the magnetic field for orienting the magnetization in the perpendicular magnetic film 3 in a specific direction is 10 ns, and thereby, it is ensured that overwrite can be achieved correctly. The hatched portions in the record patterns PTN A , PTN B , PTN C in FIG. 3 indicate the regions where the perpendicular magnetic film is magnetized, for example, in the upward direction representing a value "1" and the open portions conversely indicate the regions where the perpendicular magnetic film is magnetized, for example, downward representing a value "0". According to the above described arrangement, it is adapted such that three semiconductor laser elements 6A, 6B and 6C are sequentially pulse-driven in a time-divisional manner to thereby sequentially form light spots SP A , SP B , SP C along three recording tracks TR n , TR n+1 , TR n+2 on a magneto-optical disk 4, and a modulating magnetic field HW whose polarity is reversed depending on the value of magnetic head driving data DT REC obtained by combining three recording data DT A , DT B , DT C to be recorded along three recording tracks TR n , TR n+1 , TR n+2 in a time-divisional manner is applied to the aforesaid light spots, and thus it is made possible to provide a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus 1 in a simple structure and capable of achieving overwrite using multiple beams. The invention is not limited to the above-mentioned description given in relation to a preferred embodiment. In particular, the number of laser elements and respective tracks in a group is not limited to three and the tracks need not be adjacent. By such arrangement, it is made possible to provide a magneto-optical disk recording apparatus in which transfer rate of record information is totally improved to a great degree.

Claims: A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus comprising: a laser beam source; an optical system for focusing a light beam from said laser beam source on a recording track of a magneto-optical disk; driving means for pulse-driving said laser beam so as to successively heat the areas in a track predetermined for data storage; magnetic modulating signal generating means for generating in synchronism with the laser driving signal a magnetic modulating signal in response to the data desired to be recorded along said recording track; and external magnetic field generating means for applying a modulating magnetic field whose polarity is in response to the output signal from said magnetic modulating signal generating means to said recording track, characterized by said laser beam source comprising laser beam source elements (6 A -6 C ) for generating a plurality of laser beams (L A -L C ); said optical system focusing each laser beam on a respective recording track (TR n - TR n + ₂); said driving means (15 A -15 C ) sequentially and cyclically switching on said laser beams in a time-divisional manner; said magnetic modulating signal generating means (14) generating a single composite magnetic modulating signal (DT REC ) formed by combining data (DT A -DT C ) desired to be recorded at respectively irradiated areas along said plurality of recording tracks in a time-divisional manner; and said external magnetic field generating means (16, 17) receiving said composite magnetic modulating signal for applying magnetic field to said plurality of recording tracks. A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising reference clock generating means (12) for generating a reference clock (S CK ) based on clock information included in a detected output from detection means (10, 11) receiving beams (L A -L C ) reflected from said magneto-optical disk (4). A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said driving means (15 A -15 C ) is adapted to generate a plurality of driving pulses (SP A -SP C ) for driving each of said laser beam source elements (6 A -6 C ), based on said reference clock (S CK ). A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said driving means (15 A -15 C ) is adapted to generate a driving pulse (SP A ) serving as a reference pulse rising at the timing when said reference clock (S CK ) rises and a plurality of driving pulses (SP B -SP C ) rising so as to sequentially follow said reference pulse with a delay of a predetermined fraction of the clock period. A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said magnetic modulating signal generating means (14) is adapted to produce a plurality of data (DT A -DT C ) to be recorded based on said data desired to be recorded along said plurality of recording tracks (TR n , TR n + 1 , TR n + 2 ) input thereto in synchronism with said reference clock (S CK ) and to sequentially and cyclically combine said plurality of data to be recorded, with each thereof allotted a predetermined fraction of the clock period, and deliver the combined data to said external magnetic field generating means (16, 17). A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said driving means (15 A -15 C ) is adapted to generate a first driving pulse (SP A ) rising at the timing when said reference clock (S CK ) rises and a second driving pulse (SP B ) and a third driving pulse (SP C ) rising so as to sequentially follow said first pulse with a delay of one-third the clock period. A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said magnetic modulating signal generating means (14) is adapted to produce a plurality of data (DT A -DT C ) to be recorded based on said data desired to be recorded along said plurality of recording tracks (TR n , TR n + 1 , TR n + 2 ) input thereto in synchronism with said reference clock (S CK ) and to sequentially and cyclically combine said plurality of data to be recorded, with each thereof allotted one-third the clock period, and deliver the combined data to said external magnetic field generating means (16, 17). A magneto-optical disk recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording track (TR n , TR n + ₁, TR n + 2 ) is provided with clock information recorded along the same in advance.

Inventors: OGAWA HIROSHI, WATANABE TETSU, OGAWA, HIROSHI, WATANABE, TETSU
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G11B11
IPC codes: G11B11