JPS5971033A - Optical recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an optical recorder capable of high-speed recording by providing a semiconductor laser array, waveguide type optical demultiplexing path, and system which focuses irradiation light to form an image on a recording medium. CONSTITUTION:Light having intensity converted according to a recording signal is generated by a semiconductor laser and guided to a light guide 2. A counter electrode is provided on the reverse surface of a substrate in parallel to electrodes 3 and 4, and a current is applied either between electrodes 3 and 7 or between electrode 4 and 7 selectively to obtain a distribution having such a gradient that the X-directional voltage in the light guide decreases reversely with distance. When the crystal axis of the light guide is selected properly, a refractive index distribution proportional to an electric field distribution is obtained, and guided light is deflected by it and guided to the light guide in the direction of the voltage-applied electrode. The light guide is selected to project the light from one of output terminals 5 of four light guides. Those four output terminals are selected in order to make a scan within a range of four recording points and N groups of elements are integrated to make a simultaneous 4N-point scan over N-point recording.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording device using a photosensitive material as a medium.

A recording device using a photosensitive material as a medium includes a light source for writing, a means for converting the strength of the entire recording signal into a weak one, a means for irradiating the converted light over a recording range, and an image of the irradiated light on the recording medium. Necessary in terms of means.

Conventional recording devices are broadly classified into the following two types.

(1) A light source that uses l/-gold, converts it into a light intensity according to the recording signal through internal or external modulation, and forms an image on the medium using a lens while mechanically scanning the recording range. (2) Using a small light source arranged across the recording range in accordance with the spatial recording density, or a line light source and an optical shutter arranged across the recording range in accordance with the spatial recording density. , realized the interest of the light spot according to the recording signal,
In the device (1), which uses a lens to form an image on the medium, recording is performed using a laser, so the amount of light is small and the modulation element is relatively fast, so high-speed recording is possible. Therefore, increasing the speed is limited due to insufficient exposure amount due to insufficient irradiation time and mechanical factors of the scanning system.

In the case of (2), the problem of accuracy regarding the mechanical drive system can be alleviated compared to the case of (1) because it uses solid-state scanning and only requires electrical processing, but the light source uses metals such as L, ED, and fluorescent lamps. Therefore, the absolute amount of light that reaches the recording medium is weaker than when using a laser, the response time of the optical shutter is slow enough to limit the recording time, and moreover, multiple light sources are required. Also, the high-speed recording by this device is limited because a large number of optical shutter drive systems are required for high-speed one-shot operation.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the conventional drawbacks, to provide a large output light amount, a short response time, and a long irradiation time per recording point.
Therefore, the number of drive circuits can be reduced, thereby providing an original recording device that enables high-speed recording.

The present invention provides a first means for converting a recording signal into intensity of light, and a method for converting the intensity of light over a recording range. a second means for irradiating and a third means for imaging the irradiated light onto a photosensitive recording medium; in an optical recording device that is completely blind, said first means has a semiconductor laser array; The device is characterized in that the means has a waveguide optical branching path for scanning the light emitted from the semiconductor laser array.

Embodiments of the optical recording device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of an optical recording device according to the present invention in which a semiconductor laser and a waveguide optical branching path are integrated on the same substrate. Light whose intensity is converted in accordance with the recording signal is generated by the semiconductor laser l and guided to the optical waveguide 2. A counter electrode 7 is provided on the back surface of the substrate in parallel with the electrode 3 or the electrode 4, and by selectively applying a full voltage between the electrodes 3 and 7 or between the electrodes 4 and 7, the X direction in the waveguide is The electric field has a sloped distribution that becomes weaker as it moves away from the electrode to which the full voltage is applied.If the crystal axis of the waveguide is appropriately selected, a distribution of refractive index changes proportional to this electric field distribution can be obtained. The guided light is thereby deflected and guided into the waveguide in the direction of the energized electrode. For example, GaAs
When using a 43m crystal such as
The above-mentioned refractive index distribution can be obtained by setting the refractive index distribution to the Y axis.

If further waveguides are selected in the same manner, light is emitted from any one of the four waveguide output ends 5. If the output ends of the four waveguides are selected sequentially, scanning will be performed within the range of four recording points, and furthermore, if all eight elements of this set are integrated fi1, N
While recording the points.

It is possible to scan 4N points.

Although the lens thread at the output end is not shown in FIG. 1, it can be realized using a selfoc lens, a microlens, a 5'0 fiber, etc.

In this example, the case where the output of one semiconductor laser is divided into a total of four points is described, but if the embedding density of the semiconductor laser is increased, the number of divisions can be reduced and the irradiation time per point can be increased. This enables even higher speed recording. In addition, even if the embedding density is reduced and the number of divisions is increased, recording is still possible because the laser emitted light is powerful, and in this case, the number of drive circuits can be reduced by reducing the number of elements. .

The embodiment shown in Figure 1 is a case in which the semiconductor laser and the optical waveguide are integrated on the same substrate, but if the laser and the optical waveguide are placed on separate substrates and a coupled sound system such as a microlens or optical fiber is used, the optical waveguide It is also possible to use another material such as LiNb0a as the material, and to use a different electrode shape.

According to the present invention, as described above, the output light amount is large, the response time is short, and the irradiation time per recording point is long.
It is possible to realize a complete optical recording device that requires fewer drive circuits and that enables high-speed recording.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an optical recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the portion shown in FIG. 1... Semiconductor laser, 2... Optical waveguide, 3... Electrode, 4... Electrode, 5...
...Waveguide output end, 6...Substrate, 7...
...Counter electrode. f l Kaikyo 2 Akira

Claims (1)

[Claims] A first means for converting a recording signal into a glorious strength. A completely blind optical recording apparatus comprising a second means for irradiating the converted source over a recording range and a third means for imaging the irradiated light onto a photosensitive recording medium, wherein the first means comprises a semiconductor laser array. 2. An optical recording apparatus, wherein the second means has a waveguide source branching path for scanning the light emitted from the semiconductor laser array.