Patent ID: 8462594
Filing Date: 2013-06-11
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a magnetic recording medium; a magnetic pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface and produces a write magnetic field for writing data on the magnetic recording medium; a waveguide including a core and a cladding, the core allowing light to propagate therethrough; and a plasmon generator, wherein: the magnetic pole is located forward of the core in a direction of travel of the magnetic recording medium; the plasmon generator is disposed between the core and the magnetic pole; the core has an evanescent light generating surface that generates evanescent light based on the light propagating through the core, the evanescent light generating surface facing toward the plasmon generator; the plasmon generator has: a front end face located in the medium facing surface; a flat surface connected to the front end face and facing toward the evanescent light generating surface; and a first side surface and a second side surface that are at a distance from each other and are located farther from the evanescent light generating surface than is the flat surface; the front end face includes a near-field light generating part that generates near-field light; the flat surface is shaped like a band, parallel to the evanescent light generating surface and elongated in a first direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface, the flat surface having a first edge and a second edge that are opposite to each other in a second direction parallel to the evanescent light generating surface and the medium facing surface; the entirety of the flat surface extends parallel to the first direction; the first side surface is connected to the first edge; the second side surface is connected to the second edge; the cladding includes a gap part located between the evanescent light generating surface and the flat surface; and the plasmon generator is configured so that a surface plasmon is excited on the flat surface through coupling with the evanescent light generated from the evanescent light generating surface, the surface plasmon propagates along the flat surface to the near-field light generating part, and the near-field light generating part generates the near-field light based on the surface plasmon.