Abstract
Three-dimensional thermal finite-element modelling and analyses based on an improved thermal model are performed on grooved near-field re-writable phase change optical disk for the first time. The improved model takes into consideration the thermal effects generated by both the incident and reflected light. Performance of the disk as a result of optical and geometrical variations was quantified. The thermal effects due to irradiation by a 430 nm blue laser were also investigated. Temperature profiles and heat flow characteristics were obtained and analysed. One set of result obtained indicated that a numerical aperture of 1.5 with a coupling efficiency of 50% resulted in the highest recorded temperature.