Optical recording/reproducing method

Abstract

An optical recording/reproducing method and an optical recording medium capable of performing excellent optical recording with a simple structure in a recording layer made of environmentally friendly materials. The optical recording medium has a recording layer on a substrate. The recording layer has a pair of dielectric layers of which states are altered by a laser beam that is an energy beam of which intensity is modulated according to information to be recorded. This recording layer also has a state-change assisting layer sandwiched by these dielectric layers. The state-change assisting layer includes an element selected from Sn, Ti, Si, Bi, Ge, and C as a principle component, while the dielectric material as a base material for the dielectric layers is at least one of ZnS, SiO2, AlN, and Ta2O5.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.