US Patent 7197005 Optical recording method and medium

In an optical recording medium including a grooved light-transparent substrate, a phase change recording layer, a dielectric layer and a reflective layer, recording is carried out by irradiating a laser beam to the recording layer through an objective lens in an optical system. The recording is carried out in a groove recording mode under the conditions: 0.48≦PT/(λ/NA)≦0.74, and PT≦0.50 μm wherein λ is a laser beam wavelength, NA is an objective lens numerical aperture, and PT is a track pitch, thereby forming a recorded mark having opposite ends extending out of the groove. This enables high density recording and increases the data transfer rate of a phase change optical recording medium.