Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head with main pole having narrow pole tip with plasmonic layer
AssigneeWestern Digital Technologies, Inc.
InventorTakuya Matsumoto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head has a slider with a gas-bearing-surface (GBS). The slider supports a near-field transducer (NFT) with an output tip at the GBS and a main magnetic pole with a pole tip at the GBS. The pole tip has a narrow cross-track width that can be substantially the same as the cross-track width of the NFT output tip. A plasmonic layer is located between the main pole and the NFT and has a tip at the GBS between the main pole tip and the NFT output tip. The plasmonic layer may also be located on the cross-track sides of the main pole and the main pole tip.
Claims24
A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer comprising:
- a head carrier having a recording-layer-facing surface, an along-the-track axis and a cross-track axis substantially orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
- a near-field transducer (NFT) layer on the head carrier on a surface substantially orthogonal to the recording-layer-facing surface and having an NFT output tip substantially at the recording-layer-facing surface with a cross-track width;
- a main pole on the head carrier, the main pole facing the NFT layer and having a pole tip substantially at the recording-layer-facing surface and aligned with the NFT output tip in the along-the-track direction, the pole tip having a cross-track width substantially equal to or less than the cross-track width of the NFT output tip;
- a layer of plasmonic material on the main pole between the main pole and the NFT layer, the plasmonic layer including a plasmonic tip on the pole tip and aligned with the NFT output tip in the along-the-track direction;
- and
- an optical waveguide on the head carrier and optically coupled to the NFT layer.
A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer comprising:
- a gas-bearing slider having a gas-bearing surface (GBS), an along-the-track axis and a cross-track axis substantially orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
- a near-field transducer (NFT) layer on the slider on a surface substantially orthogonal to the GBS and having an output tip substantially at the GBS with a cross-track width;
- a main pole on the slider, the main pole facing the NFT layer and having a pole tip substantially at the GBS and aligned with the NFT output tip in the along-the-track direction, the pole tip having a cross-track width substantially equal to or less than the cross-track width of the NFT output tip;
- a layer of plasmonic material on the main pole between the main pole and the NFT layer and on the cross-track sides of the main pole and the cross-track sides of the pole tip, the plasmonic layer including a plasmonic tip on the pole tip and aligned with the NFT output tip in the along-the-track direction;
- and
- an optical waveguide on the head carrier and optically coupled to the NFT layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.