System and method for detecting reader-writer offset in a heat-assisted magnetic recording head
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsJon Trantham, Tim Rausch, Jason C. Jury, Mark Allen Gaertner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus comprises a heat-assisted magnetic recording head configured to write to and read from a magnetic recording medium. The head comprises a reader and a writer including a near-field transducer (NFT). The reader comprises a center which is laterally offset relative to a center of the writer to define a reader-writer offset (RWO) therebetween. A magnetic recording medium comprises a plurality of tracks. The plurality of tracks comprises at least one track used as a region to test for a shift in the RWO. A processor is coupled to the recording head and configured to detect the RWO shift.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- a heat-assisted magnetic recording head configured to write to and read from a magnetic recording medium, the head comprising a reader and a writer including a near-field transducer (NFT), the reader comprising a reader center which is laterally offset relative to a writer center of the writer to define a reader-writer offset (RWO) therebetween;
- a magnetic recording medium comprising a plurality of tracks, the plurality of tracks comprising at least one track used as a region to test for a shift in the RWO resulting from a change in an amount the reader center is laterally offset relative to the writer center due to changes in the NFT;
- and
- a processor coupled to the recording head and configured to detect the RWO shift in response to reading data from the at least one track by the reader.
A method, comprising:
- moving a heat-assisted magnetic recording head relative to a magnetic recording medium comprising a plurality of tracks, the head comprising a reader and a writer including a near-field transducer (NFT), the reader comprising a center which is laterally offset relative to a center of the writer to define a reader-writer offset (RWO) therebetween;
- writing sectors of data to at least one track used as a region for RWO shift testing;
- reading the data written to the RWO test region;
- determining a metric of readability in response to reading the data;
- and
- detecting a shift in the RWO using the readability metric.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a recording head configured to write to and read from a magnetic recording medium, the head comprising a reader, a writer, and a reader center which has a lateral offset relative to a writer center of the writer to define a reader-writer offset (RWO) therebetween;
- a magnetic recording medium comprising a plurality of tracks, the plurality of tracks comprising at least one track used as a region to test for a shift in the RWO resulting from a change in the lateral offset between the reader center and the writer center;
- and
- a processor coupled to the recording head and configured to detect the RWO shift in response to reading data from the at least one track by the reader and determining a readability metric.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.