Patent ID: 8488419
Filing Date: 2013-07-16
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. A thermally assisted magnetic recording (TAMR) head comprising: (a) a write pole having a leading edge and a trailing edge formed along an air bearing surface (ABS), said leading edge and trailing edge are part of a leading side and trailing side, respectively, that are connected by two sides to define a cross-track width along each of the leading and trailing edges, the TAMR head including the write pole, a hybrid plasmon generator (hPG), and a waveguide move in a down-track direction over a magnetic medium during a write process; (b) the waveguide that captures light energy from a light source and propagates the light energy toward an end of the waveguide at the ABS, the waveguide has a top surface that faces the write pole and is separated from a planar bottom surface of the hPG by a first gap distance; and (c) the hPG that is formed between the waveguide and the write pole, the hPG couples light energy from the waveguide to a surface plasmon mode along the planar bottom surface, the surface plasmon mode is propagated to an end (tip) of a peg portion of the hPG at the ABS and is then projected as an optical spot onto a localized region of the magnetic medium thereby heating the localized region and reducing its magnetic coercivity and anisotropy to facilitate a write process, the hPG comprises: