Coherent interlayer cross talk and stray-light intensity of multilayer read-only-memory (ROM) optical disks are investigated. From results of scalar diffraction analyses, we conclude that layer separations above 10 microm are preferred in a system using a 0.85 numerical aperture objective lens in terms of signal quality and stability in focusing control. Disk structures are optimized to prevent signal deterioration resulting from multiple reflections, and appropriate detectors are determined to maintain acceptable stray-light intensity. In the experiment, quadrilayer and octalayer high-density ROM disks are prepared by stacking UV-curable films onto polycarbonate substrates. Data-to-clock jitters of < or = 7% demonstrate the feasibility of multilayer disk storage up to 200 Gbytes.