The Inner Workings of CD/DVD Drives episodes:

• July 24, 2017As the disk moves, the astigmatic beam changes shape on the new detector.

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• July 24, 2017There is just one more challenge: keeping the laser centered on the data track.

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• July 24, 2017If the disk drifts, one of the side beams blinks on the lane markers.

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• July 24, 2017And this all fits inside a half cubic centimeter!

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• July 24, 2017This podcast is drawn from the Virtual Lab presentations of WeCanFigureThisOut.org. The copyrighted material of this site was developed under funding from National Science Foundation CCLI, NIRT, MRSEC and NUE programs. This project is led by John C. Be

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• July 24, 2017All of the scenes together

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• January 01, 1990The optical head is the heart of the CD/DVD drive.

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• January 01, 1990And then there is the mechanism that moves the optical read/write head . . .

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• January 01, 1990A rail and gear push a cam that lifts the motor, driving its spindle through the disk

  -

  ...more

  

  ---

• January 01, 1990Move to the side to see how the rotation motor is lifted

  -

  ...more

  

  ---