Recording medium having a substrate containing microscopic pattern of parallel groove and land sections and recording/reproducing equipment therefor

1. An information recording medium comprising:

a substrate having a microscopic pattern, having a continuous shape of approximately parallel grooves formed with alternating groove and land sections;

a recording layer formed on the microscopic pattern;

a light transmission layer formed on the recording layer,

wherein the recording layer is formed by a phase change material; and

wherein the microscopic pattern is formed so as to satisfy a relation of P<λ/NA and a thickness of the light transmission layer is within a range of 0.07 to 0.12 mm, wherein P is a pitch of the groove section or the land section, λ is a wavelength of reproducing light beam and NA is a numerical aperture of an objective lens; and

wherein the land section is wobbled in the radial direction and having a wobbled shape corresponding to a signal to be recorded on the land section resulting from the modulation of a phase modulated wave that is further modulated by a single frequency wave, the single frequency wave having a frequency of integral multiples or one over integral multiples of a frequency of the phase modulated wave, and

wherein the frequency of the single frequency wave is different from that of the phase modulated wave.

2. A recording apparatus comprising:

a recording medium having

(a) a substrate having a microscopic pattern, having a continuous shape of approximately parallel grooves formed with alternating groove and land sections;

(b) a recording layer formed on the microscopic pattern;

(c) a light transmission layer formed on the recording layer;

wherein the microscopic pattern is formed so as to satisfy a relation of P<λ/NA and a thickness of the light transmission layer is within a range of 0.07 to 0.12 mm, and

wherein P is a pitch of the groove section or the land section, λ is a wavelength of reproducing light beam and NA is a numerical aperture of an objective lens; and

wherein the land section is wobbled in the radial direction and having a wobbled shape corresponding to a signal to be recorded on the land section resulting from the modulation of a phase modulated wave that is further modulated by a single frequency wave, the single frequency wave having a frequency of integral multiples or one over integral multiples of a frequency of the phase modulated wave, and

wherein the frequency of the single frequency wave is different from that of the phase modulated wave;

the recording apparatus further comprising:

(d) a pickup composed of a light emitting element having a wavelength of λ within a range of 350 to 450 nm and an objective lens having a numerical aperture of NA within a range of 0.75 to 0.9 for reading out reflected light from and recording on the information recording medium;

(e) a motor for rotating the information recording medium;

(f) servo means for controlling the drive of the pickup and the motor;

(g) a turntable for supporting the information recording medium while rotating;

(h) interface (I/F) means for receiving the original information signal;

(i) modulator means for modulating the original information signal;

(j) waveform converter means for converting the original information signal into a format suitable for a recording characteristic of the recording layer of the information recording medium;

(k) auxiliary information demodulator means for demodulating a differential signal outputted from the pickup; and

(l) controlling means for controlling the entire recording apparatus.