Superresolution technology applied to optical discs

Abstract

Smaller focal points are essential for the development of the next-generation optical disc. The size of focal point depends on the diffraction effect that is dependant on the numerical aperture of a lens and the wavelength of light. However, increase of the numerical aperture and decrease of the light wavelength will be ultimately limited due to the technical difficulty of fabricating a too-high NA lens and the too-short wavelength laser. In this paper, we report another approach of using the superresolution technology to compress the size of the so-called Airy spot for the next-generation optical disc, which is independent on the wavelength of laser. The superresolution phase plates are designed and fabricated with a microoptics technique. When such a phase plate is inserted into the optical system, the central spot at the focal plane of a lens is decreased to be 0.8 times of the Airy pattern, implying the possibility of reading higher storage density of optical discs. The most attractive feature is that the phase plate can be mass-produced at a very low cost, compared with the high cost of the high-numerical lens and/or the short wavelength laser. The disadvantages are that the inserted phase plate will induce the slight circular sidelobes around the central sport, so that it consumes a little more laser energy. The shortcoming could be overcome with suitable amendment. We have fabricated the phase plates with the surface-relief profile on a normal glass for phase modulation. Experimental results of superresolution effect with a low numerical aperture (NA=0.1) and a high-numerical lens (NA=0.8) are reported, which are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction. Superresolution technique should be highly interesting as a novel technique of the next-generation pickup head for reading the high storage of the optical discs.