Magnetooptical recording method

A magnetooptical recording method for recording information on a magnetooptical recording medium that includes at least a first magnetic layer having a Curie temperature T.sub.1 and a coercive force H.sub.1, a second magnetic layer having a Curie temperature T.sub.2 lower than the Curie temperature T.sub.1 and a coercive force H.sub.2, and a third magnetic layer having a Curie temperature T.sub.3 higher than the Curie temperature T.sub.2 and a coercive force H.sub.3 smaller than the coercive force H.sub.2 and satisfying the following conditions at room temperature:

• ##EQU10## wherein .sigma..sub.w12 is the interfacial magnetic wall energy between the first and second magnetic layers, .sigma..sub.w23 is the interfacial magnetic wall energy between the second and third magnetic layers, M.sub.s1 is the saturation magnetic moment of the first magnetic layer, M.sub.s2 is the saturation magnetic moment of the second magnetic layer, M.sub.s3 is the saturation magnetic moment of the third magnetic layer, h.sub.1 is the thickness of the first magnetic layer, h.sub.2 is the thickness of the second magnetic layer, and h.sub.3 is the thickness of the third magnetic layer, said method comprising the steps of:
• initializing the third magnetic layer alone by means of an initializing magnetic field;
• irradiating the medium with a light beam after the initialization of the third magnetic layer;
• applying a magnetic field, modulated according to the information, to the position irradiated with the light beam;
• detecting reflected light generated from the irradiation of the medium with the light beam in said irradiating step, thereby reproducing the information recorded at the position irradiated with the light beam;
• and
• discriminating whether the information has been correctly recorded on the medium, based on the recording information reproduced in said reproducing step.