Optical near-field generator and recording and reproduction apparatus
AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorTakuya Matsumoto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided is an optical near-field recording and reproduction apparatus capable of adjusting the intensity of optical near-field and the amount of light bouncing off on the bottom of a slider around a scatterer and the surface of a medium and traveling back to a light source. A reflecting layer is formed above a structure for generating an optical near-field, and multiple beam interference is caused between the reflecting layer and the surface of the medium. The amount of returning above an optical near-field generator element is adjusted by adjusting the distance between the reflecting layer and the surface of the medium.
Claims12
An optical near-field generator, comprising:
- a light source;
- a scatterer that receives light from the light source, and that irradiates an object to be irradiated with an optical near-field;
- a film surrounding the sides and top of the scatterer;
- and
- a reflecting layer disposed on the film;
- wherein the thickness of the film is greater than zero and is not more than three times the wavelength of the light propagating through the film from the light source.
An optical near-field generator, comprising:
- a light source;
- a scatterer that receives light from the light source and irradiates an object to be irradiated with an optical near-field;
- a film surrounding the sides and top of the scatterer;
- and
- a reflecting layer disposed on the film;
- wherein the film has the thickness that minimizes the intensity of returned light traveling above the reflecting layer or the thickness that maximizes the intensity of the optical near-field generated by the scatterer.
A recording and reproduction apparatus, comprising:
- a recording medium;
- a medium driver that drives the recording medium;
- a head that performs recording and reproduction operation on the recording medium;
- and
- a head driver that controls the position of the head above the recording medium,
- wherein the head includes a light source, a scatterer that receives light from the light source, and that irradiates the recording medium with an optical near-field, a film surrounding the sides and top of the scatterer, a reflecting layer disposed on the film, and a photodetector that detects the intensity of reflected light traveling above the reflecting layer;
- wherein the flying height of the head above the surface of the recording medium is detected using an output from the photodetector;
- and
- wherein the thickness of the film surrounding the sides and top of the scatterer is set so as to minimize the intensity of returned light, of the light for generating the optical near-field, traveling above the reflecting layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.