The erase process in direct overwrite magneto-optic recording

The functioning of the erase process is of particular concern in single-layer direct-overwrite magnetooptic recording media. The authors describe the results of three different experiments that studied the dynamics and mechanism of the domain erasure process. Results indicate that the erase process in these direct-overwrite materials is completed about 40-80 ns after it starts. All three experiments show that the erase process in the materials studied is dominated by a simple collapse of the previously written domain, rather than the nucleation of a new domain within the previously written domain. They show that the erase pulse probably has insufficient energy to produce any domain nucleation.>