| abstract |
An optical recording medium for use with a recording apparatus of the type that focuses onto the medium, as the medium is moved in a prescribed fashion, a beam of light that is modulated in intensity in accordance with a data signal to be recorded. The recording medium includes a substrate having a smooth, planar upper surface, with a thin light-absorbing coating overlaying the surface, such coating including an explosive material such as nitrocellulose, and a light-absorbing dye. As the medium is moved with respect to the intensity-modulated beam, the explosive coating is selectively energized by the beam to induce spaced explosions threin, whereby corresponding optically readable irregularities, representative of the data signal, are formed in the outer surface of the coating. |