Thermal modeling studies of organic compact disk-writable media.

The marking response of optical data storage structures is controlled by the interplay of optical and thermal effects. Relatively simple analytical expressions were derived that provided a qualitative and semiquantitative description of the optical and thermal characteristics of an organic dye-based optical recording medium. These were used to explain various phenomena that were observed during recording experiments that were performed on compact disk-writable media and to evolve a new understanding of the mark formation process.