Near field optical head having flexible structure

An optical head comprising:

• a slider supported by a suspension arm such that a load weight is placed on the suspension arm, the load weight being counterbalanced by an air bearing force generated by movement of the slider relative to a recording medium so as to produce a clearance between the recording medium and the slider;
• a flexible structure linking the slider to the suspension arm so that a posture of the slider relative to the suspension arm can be changed;
• an arm-to-slider light guiding structure for guiding light between the suspension arm and the slider;
• a minute aperture formed at a bottom face of the slider for interacting with the recording medium via near-field light;
• and
• an in-slider light guiding structure for guiding light between the surface of the slider and the aperture;
• wherein information is recorded to and/or read from the recording medium based on the scattering of near-field light between the recording medium and the aperture while the slider is being scanned over the surface of the recording medium;
• and
• wherein the flexible structure is integrated with the arm-to-slider light guiding structure.