Thermally induced structural relaxation in amorphous rare-earth–transition metal thin films

Abstract

In the course of practical usage, amorphous optical data storage media are subject to multiple write-erase cycles. The laser heating that this entails can result in an appreciable change in material properties including those relevant to data recording and retention. Media lifetime predictions based on conventional Arrhenian considerations have, in the past, proven inaccurate. We simulated the thermally induced structural relaxation of rare-earth–transition metal media assuming the existence of a spectrum of activated processes and provided a rationale for some experimental observations within this framework.