Two-photon absorbing optical recording material and two-photon absorbing optical recording and reproducing method

1. A two-photon absorbing optical recording material comprising a two-photon absorbing compound and a recording component, in which a recorded area and an unrecorded area are formed by utilizing a two-photon absorption of the two-photon absorbing compound, and a reflectance or transmittance differs between the recorded area and the unrecorded area,

wherein the recording component contains a dye precursor capable of becoming a color-forming material, the dye precursor containing at least a dye precursor of the following formula (32):

A1-PD  Formula (32)

wherein A1 and PD are covalently bonded, A1 represents an organic compound moiety having a function of cutting the covalent bond with PD due to electron or energy transfer with the excited state of a two-photon absorbing compound, and PD represents an organic compound moiety capable of becoming a color-forming material when covalently bonded with A1 and becoming colored when released by the cutting of the covalent bond with A1,

wherein the dye precursor of formula (32) is a compound represented by any one of the following formulae (33-1) to (33-6):

in formulae (33-1) to (33-6), PD has the same meaning as in formula (32), R 71 , R 80 , and R 81 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, R 72 , R 73 , R 78 , R 79 , R 82 and R 83 each represent a substituent, a71, a72, a74 and a75 each independently represent an integer of 0 to 5, a73 and a76 each independently represent 0 or 1, provided that when a71, a72, a74 and a75 each are 2 or more, multiple R 72 s, R 73 s, R 78 s or R 79 s may be the same or different and may combine with each other to form a ring, and each of the pairs R 80 and R 81 , and R 82 and R 83 may combine with each other to form a ring.

2. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 1 , which is a write-once type material.

3. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the difference of reflectance or transmittance is caused by any of difference in refractive index, absorbance difference, foaming, scattering, specular reflection, diffraction or interference.

4. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dye precursor is capable of becoming a color-forming material having an absorption shifted to a longer wavelength than in the original state owing to the electron transfer or the energy transfer from the excited state of the two-photon absorbing compound that has been generated by a two-photon absorption, in which the color-forming material does not absorb the light for reproduction irradiated for detecting the difference of reflectance or transmittance.

5. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the color-forming material has an absorption maximum within a wavelength range falling between a wavelength of the light for reproduction and a wavelength shorter by 200 nm than that of the light for reproduction.

6. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dye precursor is capable of becoming a color-forming material having an absorption shifted to a longer wavelength than in the original state owing to the electron transfer or the energy transfer from the excited state of the two-photon absorbing compound that has been generated by a two-photon absorption, in which the color-forming material absorbs the light for reproduction irradiated for detecting the difference of reflectance or transmittance.

7. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dye precursor is an acid color-forming dye precursor and the recording material further contains an acid generator.

8. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the acid generator is diaryliodonium salts, sulfonium salts, diazonium salts, metal arene complexes, trihalomethyl-substituted triazines or sulfonates.

9. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the color-forming material generated from the acid color-forming dye precursor is a xanthene dye, a fluoran dye or a triphenylmethane dye.

10. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dye precursor is a base color-forming dye precursor and the recording material further contains a base generator.

11. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the base generator is represented by any of the following formulae (31-1) to (31-4):

wherein R 201 , R 202 , R 213 , R 214 and R 215 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, a cycloalkyl group, an aryl group or a heterocyclic group, R 201 and R 202 may combine with each other to form a ring, R 213 , R 214 and R 215 may combine with each other to form a ring, R 203 , R 206 , R 207 and R 209 each independently represent a substituent, R 204 , R 205 , R 208 , R 210 and R 211 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, R 210 and R 211 may combine with each other to form a ring, R 216 , R 217 , R 218 and R 219 each independently represent an alkyl group or an aryl group, R 212 represents an aryl group or a heterocyclic group, n201 represents an integer of 0 or 1, and n202 to n204 each independently represent an integer of 0 to 5.

12. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the base color-forming dye precursor is a non-dissociated form of a dissociation-type azo dye, a dissociation-type azomethine dye, a dissociation-type oxonole dye, a dissociation-type xanthene dye, a dissociation-type fluoran dye or a dissociation-type triphenylmethane-based dye.

13. The two-photon absorbing optical recording material as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the two-photon absorbing compound is a methine dye or a phthalocyanine dye.

14. A two-photon absorbing optical recording medium comprising the two-photon absorbing optical recording material of claim 1 .

15. A two-photon absorbing optical recording method, which comprises irradiating the two-photon absorbing optical recording material of claim 1 with laser light at a wavelength being longer than the linear absorption band of the two-photon absorbing compound and having no linear absorption to thereby induce a two-photon absorption, and performing a recording by utilizing the two-photon absorption.

16. A two-photon absorbing optical recording and reproduction method for recording and reproducing on and from a two-photon absorbing optical recording material that contains a two-photon absorbing compound and a recording component, the method comprising: performing a recording by utilizing a two-photon absorption of the two-photon absorbing compound; and then irradiating the material with light to thereby detect a difference in the reflectance or transmittance between the recorded area and the unrecorded area of the material to perform a reproduction,

wherein the recording component contains a dye precursor capable of becoming a color-forming material, the dye precursor containing at least a dye precursor of the following formula (32):

A1-PD  Formula (32)

wherein A1 and PD are covalently bonded, A1 represents an organic compound moiety having a function of cutting the covalent bond with PD due to electron or energy transfer with the excited state of a two-photon absorbing compound, and PD represents an organic compound moiety capable of becoming a color-forming material when covalently bonded with A1 and becoming colored when released by the cutting of the covalent bond with A1,

wherein the dye precursor of formula (32) is a compound represented by any one of the following formulae (33-1) to (33-6):

Formula (33-1)

Formula (33-2)

Formula (33-3)

Formula (33-4)

Formula (33-5)

Formula (33-6)

in formulae (33-1) to (33-6), PD has the same meaning as in formula (32), R 71 , R 80 , and R 81 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, R 72 , R 73 , R 78 , R 79 , R 82 and R 83 each represent a substituent, a71, a72, a74 and a75 each independently represent an integer of 0 to 5, a73 and a76 each independently represent 0 or 1, provided that when a71, a72, a74 and a75 each are 2 or more, multiple R 72 s, R 73 s, R 78 s or R 79 s may be the same or different and may combine with each other to form a ring, and each of the pairs R 80 and R 81 , and R 82 and R 83 may combine with each other to form a ring.

17. The two-photon absorbing optical recording and reproduction method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the wavelength of the light irradiated to the material for recording thereon through two-photon absorption is the same as that of the light irradiated thereto for detecting the difference of reflectance or transmittance of the material at the reproduction.

18. A method for coloring a photosensitive polymer composition, which comprises irradiating the photosensitive polymer composition of claim 1 with light that has a longer wavelength than the longest absorption wavelength of the composition and is not absorbed by the composition, to color the composition.

19. The coloration method as claimed in claim 18 , which comprises irradiating the photosensitive polymer composition with light that corresponds to the non-resonant two-photon absorption maximum wavelength of the two-photon absorbing compound (B) in the polymer composition, to obtain a colored photosensitive polymer composition.