Communications: Ten billion bits on a disk: High-power laser diodes and pregrooved disks enable low-cost digital data recording and retrieval

Describes a compact optical disc system being developed by Philips as an offshoot of optical video-disc technology which uses high-power AlGaAs laser diodes. The recorder resembles strongly in concept consumer optical video-disc and audio-disc players. It gives random-access times, both in recording and in reading, similar to those obtained with present magnetic discs. Information capacities of over 1010bits per 30-cm disc have been achieved, with a mean access time of 70 ms and recording bit rates of 10 Mb/s. Raw bit error rates between 10-5and 10-6have been measured.