Optical field study of near-field optical recording with a solid immersion lens

The use of a solid immersion lens (SIL) is an important technique for increasing areal density in optical recording. Here an approximate method is presented for analyzing the optical fields in a SIL above a half-space and a SIL above a multilayer recording medium. Both propagating and evanescent components are included in the distribution of fields below the SIL. An approximate closed-form expression is given for the decay of the intensity away from the SIL surface above a half-space. In the case of a SIL above a recording medium the model describes the strong oscillations that are observed in the reflected Kerr rotation and ellipticity as the medium spacing is varied. These oscillations are attributed to standing waves in the propagating field component.