Thermally induced colloid formation of au on a polysilane film pre‐exposed to UV light and its application to novel optical recording media

A novel write‐once optical recording medium is one application of a phenomenon reported here: when a thin layer of gold on PMPS—a typical polysilane—is pre‐exposed to UV radiation before being heated, a gold colloid is formed in the PMPS in those areas which were exposed to the radiation. The accompanying reduction in reflectance due to the gold‐to‐magenta color change can be used as an optical memory that is compatible with the current CD reading system. Details of the observation and follow‐up studies are reported.