Information recording and reproducing apparatus, information recording medium and information recording apparatus

Abstract

An information recording and reproducing apparatus is constituted by a recording medium including at least a substrate, a reflection layer disposed on the substrate, and a recording layer disposed so as to interpose the reflection layer between the substrate and the recording layer; and a near-field optical head, disposed close to the recording medium, for irradiating the recording medium with near-field light to effect recording and reproduction of information. The near-field optical head includes a light-blocking metal film which includes a dielectric base material provided with a small opening and which is disposed opposite to the reflection layer disposed on the substrate so that the light-blocking metal film and the reflection layer constitute an optical resonator to increase intensity of the near-field light.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.