A review of magneto-optical recording systems

Summary form only given. Magneto-optical recording disk drives offer not only the high areal density and removability of earlier optical recording products, but erasability and rewritability as well. The authors review the principles of magneto-optical recording materials and systems. The basic properties of rare-earth/transition-metal magneto-optical recording materials are described. Means for writing, erasing, and reading domains are presented, as well as means for automatic focusing and track following. Signal-to-noise ratios achieved in systems and the resulting bit error rates are presented. A description of the key problems facing more advanced systems and work being done to solve them are also presented.<
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