Abstract
Optical recording is currently used in a number of data storage formats, such as CDR, DVD and GIGAMO magneto-optical disks. In all cases the amount of data that can be stored is limited by the spot size of the focused laser beam. This is diffraction limited and gives rise to a spot size comparable with the laser wavelength. In order to overcome this limit a solid immersion lens (SIL) enables a significantly smaller spot to be realised. The design of an optical slider incorporating a SIL and a single galvanometer mirror will enable the dynamics of high-density near-field recording to be investigated.
