High-density all-optical magnetic recording using a high-NA lens illuminated by circularly polarized pulse lights

We propose a method for high-density all-optical magnetic recording. Our analyses, based on the vector diffraction theory, show that owing to the inverse Faraday effect, circularly polarized laser pulses focused by a high numerical aperture (NA) lens can induce a small magnetization domain. For an example, the FWHM of the effective magnetization domain is 0.4646λ   when NA=0.85NA=0.85. The magnetization direction is basically perpendicular to the surface of the optic-magneto film within the effective magnetization domain and the switching direction of magnetization can be controlled by the helicity of the incident circularly polarized light. These characteristics are useful to next-generation high-density all-optical magnetic storage.