Magnetic head that detects leakage fluxes from a medium at a high resolution and leads the fluxes into a magneto-resistive element

Magnetic heads including an air bearing surface, comprising:

• a reading head comprising
• magnetic shields exposed on a surface defined by the air bearing surface,
• an MR element formed in a position not exposed on the air bearing surface, and
• a flux guide exposed on the air bearing surface to guide magnetic fluxes to said MR element;
• a recording head formed over the reading head and having a pair of magnetic poles formed via a gap layer;
• and
• a non-magnetic layer separating said magnetic shields from the recording head, wherein the height of the magnetic shields in a direction perpendicular to the air bearing surface is less than the distance from the air bearing surface to the MR element.

A magnetic head including an air bearing surface, comprising

• at least two magnetic shields, each having an upper and a lower surface and being exposed on the lower surface defined by said air bearing surface;
• and
• a flux guide formed between the magnetic shields, said flux guide including an upper surface and a lower surface exposed on said air bearing surface, said flux guide oriented to guide flux in a direction perpendicular to the air bearing surface;
• and
• an MR element formed at the upper surface of said flux guide, wherein magnetic fluxes are guided by the flux guide to said MR element, and further wherein the length of the magnetic shields along an axis perpendicular to the direction of flux travel in the flux guide is longer than the distance between the upper and lower surfaces of the magnetic shields in a direction parallel to the flux guide.