Near field optics and its application to optical memory.

This paper explains the principle of near field optics and lists the problem of high density optical memory for which a storage density of 1 Tbit/inch2 is expected as an application. Furthermore, the possibility of tracking avoidance is introduced in storage and read out, especially the latter, by using a planar probe array. The present status of probe array fabrication discussed. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 81(8): 41–48, 1998 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]