Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Yasuji Nagata

Toshiyuki Kanno

Naoyuki Ueno

Akitoshi Toda

Michio Takayama

Jun Kanehira

Etsuo Shinohara

Yoshimitsu Enomoto

Kaoru Tadokoro

Seiji Kondo

Ryo Ohta

Hideshi Takahashi

Yoshiko Uematsu

A cantilever for a scanning probe microscope comprises a lever section and a probe section disposed near the free end thereof. The probe section includes a conical distal end portion having a narrow point angle and a bulging proximal end portion continuous with the distal end portion. The cantilever is manufactured by utilizing a semiconductor process.

Cantilever for a scanning probe microscope and a method of manufacturing

An erasable optical information recording medium has a transparent substrate, and a recording layer supported by the substrate. The recording layer includes a thin film of at least one polydiacetylene having side chains. The polydiacetylene is capable of undergoing a reversible planar-nonplanar transition of the main chain structure of the polydiacetylene due to a conformational change of the side chains produced by irradiation of light. When the recording layer is irradiated with light, the reversible planar-nonplanar transition occurs at the irradiated portions to cause a corresponding change of optical properties of the recording layer, thereby recording information thereinto and erasing information therefrom.

Optical information recording medium

An optical recording medium such as an optical disk, which is capable of reversibly repeating a recording/erasing cycle. This optical recording medium comprises a transparent substrate and recording layer formed on the substrate. This recording layer comprise a liquid crystalline high polymer having side chains and a dyestuff having a recording-light absorbing property. The side chain may preferably comprises mesogen group, a monocyclic or polycyclic compound such as phenyl, benzyl, naphthyl or anthryl group, and alkyl or aryl group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms.

Optical recording medium

Growing community of inventors

Hachioji, Japan

Yasuji Nagata