Plasmon generator including two portions made of different metals

A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head comprising:

• a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium;
• a main pole that produces a write magnetic field for writing data on the recording medium;
• a waveguide including a core through which light propagates, and a cladding that surrounds the core;
• and
• a plasmon generator configured to excite a surface plasmon through coupling with evanescent light, the evanescent light occurring from the core based on the light propagating through the core, the plasmon generator including:
• a first portion formed of a first metal material;
• and
• a second portion formed of a second metal material different from the first metal material, wherein
• the plasmon generator has a front end face located in the medium facing surface, the front end face including a near-field light generating part that generates near-field light based on the surface plasmon,
• the second portion includes an end face located in the front end face,
• the first portion is not exposed in the front end face, and
• the first portion has a length of 150 to 200 nm in a direction perpendicular to the front end face, and the second portion has a length of 2 to 80 nm in the direction perpendicular to the front end face.