How does a CD Burner Work

The compact disc is a small disc that can store digital data in the form of audio, video, text, photographs and music. The CD burners have revolutionized the world of digital music. Collecting songs became very easy using the CD burner. Let us understand what a CD is, before we get to know the working of the CD burner.

Compact Disc (CD)
As mentioned earlier, the CD stores data in the digital form. Digital data is represented in the form of 1s and 0s. These 1s and 0s are in the form of bumps and flat areas on the surface of the CD. The bumps and the flats are ordered on a circular track, which is 0.5 micron thick and 3.5 miles long. The bump represents a 0 and the flat represents a 1, which is read with the laser beam in the CD player. The laser beam is focused on the reflective surface of the CD and the reflected light is read using a light sensor in the CD player. The data on the CD is stored on the bumps in a spiral path that starts at the center of the disc. The disc rotates in the CD player so that the laser beam reads the bumps and flats on the disc. The CD burner has this laser assembly to read the data and to write the data on the CD.

How does a CD Burner Work
The CD burner is used to form the bumps and flat area on the CD. The CD is made of an aluminum layer and an acrylic layer over this aluminum layer. When the CDs are manufactured in the industries, bumps and flats are engraved on the aluminum layer. The CD burner used in the laptop computers and desktop computers use a laser to create the bumps and flats.

How does a CD Burner Work - CD-R
The CD-R also uses a laser beam, but the construction of these CDs is a bit different as compared to the CDs that are written when they are manufactured. The aluminum layer is covered with a translucent dye. The aluminum layer does not have any bumps as in the CD that is manufactured in the factories. In CD-R, the translucent dye turns opaque when the laser beam falls on the dye. The bumps are not formed physically, but are formed optically. The opaque dye appears to be a bump for the laser that is used for reading the CD.

How does a CD Burner Work - CD-RW
The data on the RW is not permanent and this the reason of its complexity. The CD-RW does not use the translucent dye. Instead, it uses a layer of phase shift compound. The phase shift compound also turns opaque due to the laser that is used for writing. This compound remains opaque until it is heated again. The compound becomes translucent when it is reheated. The compound is reheated by the write laser when the CD is burnt the next time. The phase shift compound turns translucent at lower temperature of 200 degree Celsius and turns opaque at 600 degree Celsius. The phase shift compound is in a crystalline state when it is translucent and opaque when it is in amorphous state.
The CD burner erases the data by exposing a part of the CD or whole CD to high temperature with the help of a laser.

This is how CD burner works! The CD burner is also known as CD writer and is commonly used in desktop and laptop computers today.