Thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head with reflection layer for near-field transducer

A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer on a magnetic recording disk comprising:

• an air-bearing slider having an air-bearing surface (ABS) for facing the magnetic recording layer on the disk, the ABS having an along-the-track axis and a cross-track axis orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
• a write pole on the slider and having a tip at the ABS on the along-the-track axis;
• an optical waveguide on the slider having a thickness in the along-the-track axis direction and a surface oriented generally orthogonal to the along-the-track axis, the waveguide having a width Wwg in the cross-track axis direction at an end near the ABS;
• a near-field transducer (NFT) on the slider between the write pole and the optical waveguide, the NFT having a surface parallel to and spaced from said waveguide surface, a thickness in the along-the-track axis direction and an output end at the ABS, the output end being located on the along-the-track axis between the write pole tip and the waveguide end;
• a reflection layer oriented generally parallel to said waveguide surface, the waveguide being located between the reflection layer and the NFT;
• and
• electrically insulating material between the waveguide and the reflection layer and between said waveguide surface and the NFT;
• and
• wherein the distance D between the reflection layer and the center of the thickness of the NFT in the along-the-track axis direction is between 0.8N*λ/(2n) and 1.2N*λ/(2n), where N is an integer, where λ is the wavelength of the laser light and n is the average of the indices of refraction of the waveguide and said insulating material.

A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer comprising:

• a head carrier having a recording-layer-facing surface;
• a write pole layer on the head carrier and having a tip at the recording-layer-facing surface;
• a near-field transducer (NFT) layer on the head carrier oriented generally parallel to the write pole layer, the NFT layer having an output end at the recording-layer-facing surface;
• an optical waveguide layer on the head carrier oriented generally parallel to the NFT layer for guiding laser light to the NFT layer, the NFT layer being located between the waveguide layer and the write pole layer;
• a reflection layer oriented generally parallel to the waveguide layer, the waveguide layer being located between the reflection layer and the NFT layer;
• and
• electrically insulating material between the waveguide layer and the reflection layer and between the waveguide layer and the NFT layer;
• and
• wherein the waveguide layer has, in a plane parallel to the recording-layer-facing surface, a thickness Twg and a width Wwg orthogonal to Twg, and wherein the reflection layer has a width Wrl parallel to Wwg greater than 0.2 Wwg.

A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer comprising:

• a head carrier having a recording-layer-facing surface;
• a write pole layer on the head carrier and having a tip at the recording-layer-facing surface;
• a near-field transducer (NFT) layer on the head carrier oriented generally parallel to the write pole layer, the NFT layer having an output end at the recording-layer-facing surface;
• an optical waveguide layer on the head carrier oriented generally parallel to the NFT layer for guiding laser light to the NFT layer, the NFT layer being located between the waveguide layer and the write pole layer;
• a reflection layer oriented generally parallel to the waveguide layer, the waveguide layer being located between the reflection layer and the NFT layer;
• a return pole layer oriented generally parallel to the reflection layer, the reflection layer being supported on the return pole layer;
• and
• electrically insulating material between the waveguide layer and the reflection layer and between the waveguide layer and the NFT layer.