Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head with tapered main pole and heat sink material adjacent the pole

A heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer comprising:

• a head carrier having a recording-layer-facing surface with an along-the-track axis and a cross-track axis substantially orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
• a main pole on a surface substantially orthogonal to the recording-layer-facing surface, the main pole comprising a first layer and a second layer in contact with the first layer, the first layer tapering in an along-the-track direction from the second layer, the first layer having a trapezoid shape at the recording-layer-facing surface, wherein:
• a cross-track width at the recording-layer-facing surface of a first surface of the second layer is longer than the cross-track width of the first layer,
• the second layer has a second surface coupled to the first surface, the second surface being at least partially recessed from the recording-layer-facing surface;
• a near-field transducer (NFT) layer on the head carrier oriented substantially parallel to the first layer, the NFT layer having an output tip at the recording-layer-facing surface aligned with the first layer tapered end in the along-the-track direction;
• and
• heat sink material adjacent cross-track sides of the main pole first layer, wherein the first layer comprises two trapezoid shapes at the recording-layer-facing surface.

A heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer comprising:

• a head carrier having a recording-layer-facing surface with an along-the-track axis and a cross-track axis substantially orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
• a main pole on a surface substantially orthogonal to the recording-layer-facing surface, the main pole comprising a first layer and a second layer in contact with the first layer, the first layer tapering in an along-the-track direction from the second layer, the first layer having a trapezoidal shape at the recording-layer-facing surface, wherein:
• the second layer has a first surface at the recording-layer-facing surface,
• the second layer has a second surface coupled to the first surface, the second surface being at least partially recessed from the recording-layer-facing surface, and
• the first layer has two tapered ends at the recording-layer-facing surface;
• a near-field transducer (NFT) layer on the head carrier oriented substantially parallel to the first layer, the NFT layer having an output tip at the recording-layer-facing surface aligned with a portion of each of the two tapered ends in the along-the-track direction;
• and
• heat sink material adjacent cross-track sides of the main pole first layer, wherein the heat sink material is recessed in the along-the-track direction from an end of the first layer.