Seems quite similar to the classic magneto-optical (MO) disk drive technology that was (at least briefly) popular: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical

Seems quite similar to the classic magneto-optical (MO) disk drive technology that was (at least briefly) popular: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_drive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_drive The MO drives use a laser to heat the recording substrate to the Curie temperature during the recording path, too.