Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho

Naohiko Kato

Tomoyoshi Motohiro

Yasuhiko Takeda

Tatsuo Fukano

Hiroshi Ito

Tadashi Ichikawa

Tatsumi Hioki

Akihiro Takeichi

Takeshi Morikawa

Hiroaki Wakayama

Masahito Shiozawa

Shintaro Mizuno

An electrode set for chemical reaction includes a substrate, and electrodes for reduction and oxidation reactions alternately arranged on the same surface of the substrate.

Electrodes for chemical reaction, and cell for chemical reaction and chemical reactor using the same

A recording medium includes a first substance and a second substance at least in which the first and second substances undergo an oxidation-reduction reaction when an external energy is applied, thereby recording information by varying the optical characteristics. In the recording medium, the reaction of the first and second substances is suppressed, reaction which degrades the recording characteristics other than the case where the recording medium is subjected to recording. In an optical disk (i.e., the recording medium), a WO film (i.e., a second substance), a C film (i.e., a third substance) and an Sn-10 atomic % Sr film (i.e., a first substance) are formed successively on a substrate . When the recording medium is irradiated with a recording laser beam as an external energy, the WO forming the film is reduced to WO , and the Sn-10 atomic % Sr forming the film is oxidized to SrO and/or SnO mainly with the WO and the Sn-10 atomic % Sr passing through the C film and/or destroying the C film . When the recording medium is not irradiated with the recording laser beam, the presence of the C film suppresses the reaction between the WO film and the Sn-10 atomic % Sr film

Memory member

In an optical disk which includes a recording film having a laminated construction, and which records information by changing optical characteristics of the recording film by applying a laser beam, there are laminatedly formed a WO film as a second layer, the WO requiring energy by about 470 kJ when it dissociates 1 mol of oxygen molecules, an Sn&mdash;43 atomic % Bi film which includes Sn as a first layer, the Sn generating energy by about 610 kJ when it bonds with 1 mol of oxygen molecules and having a melting point of about 139&deg; C., and a resin film in this order on a guide groove forming surface of a substrate When a recording laser beam is applied, a part of Sn&mdash;43 atomic % Bi film is turned into a liquid phase, both of the films and react, and the optical characteristics of the recording film vary so that information is recorded. As a result, the retention characteristic of the recorded data is secured, and the reactivity of the recording film is enhanced.

Storage member

A recording medium which includes a first substance and a second substance, wherein an external energy is applied to at least one of the first and second substances to react them in order to change the optical characteristics of the substances for recording information, the recording medium including: a first layer composed of a first substance including at least one of S and Se, a second layer composed of a second substance including a metal, and a barrier layer being disposed between the first and second layers, which allows the reaction between the first and second layers when laser beam for recording is irradiated as an external energy, and suppresses the reaction between the first and second layers when laser beam for recording is not irradiated. Alternatively, the recording medium can be free from the barrier layer, and the second substance can be arranged to have two or more compositionally different portions or two or more phases with a different crystalline state. Thus, when the external energy is not applied, the reaction between the first substance and the second substance is suppressed. Hence, the recording characteristics of the recording medium is inhibited from degrading.

Recording medium

A recording medium is for recording information by varying optical characteristic thereof by application of an external energy thereto, and includes a first substance and a second substance. When the external energy is applied to the recording medium, the first and second substances react with each other to form a third substance having a tungsten-bronze crystalline structure, thereby varying the optical characteristic. The third substance absorbs the external energy and varies the reflectivity of the external energy. Thus, the recording medium records information thereon. The recording medium is good in environmental resistance and information retention, because the third substance is stable energetically.

A device for stabilizing a modulation operation of an optical modulator is provided, the optical modulator having an optical waveguide provided on a substrate and an electrode provided so as to correspond to the optical waveguide, modulating light inputted to the optical waveguide by a voltage corresponding to a physical amount to be measured which is inputted to the electrode, and outputting the modulated light. The device includes: an optical detecting device for outputting signal corresponding to intensity of light outputted from the optical modulator; a control signal outputting device for, on the basis of the output signal of the optical detecting device, outputting a control signal which compensates a phase bias fluctuation of the optical modulator; a light source device for outputting control light corresponding to the control signal; and a voltage applying device, provided in contact with the electrode of the optical modulator, for applying voltage corresponding to the control light to the electrode. Accordingly, the light source device illuminates to the voltage applying device a control light corresponding to a driving signal which negatively feeds back a phase bias fluctuation signal. In this way, the voltage applying device applies a voltage which is set so as to offset variation in phase bias fluctuation in accordance with bias fluctuation, and the phase bias fluctuation is offset.

Stabilizing device for optical modulator

An optical-optical modulator (10) has a substrate (1) made of Zcut-LiNbO.sub.3 and a Ti-diffused waveguide (2) thereon. The waveguide (2) is separated into two branches which merge later into one again and constitute the Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A pair of electrodes (3a, 3b) for phase modulation is formed on a modulation part (A) which is in the middle of the waveguide (2). A CdS.sub.x Te.sub.1-x photoelectric conversion film (6) is formed directly contacting the pair of electrodes (3a, 3b). The photoelectric film (6) is manufactured by oblique vapor deposition utilizing CdS and CdTe as two vapor deposition sources. When the photoelectric conversion film 6 receives a control light (Lc), the film (6) generates voltage. The generated voltage is applied to the pair of electrodes (3a, 3b) and becomes a modulation signal of the carrier light (La).

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Aichi, Japan

Naohiko Kato