Patent ID: 8947986
Filing Date: 2015-02-03
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. A thermally assisted magnetic recording (TAMR) head comprising: (a) a main pole that produces a magnetic field on a magnetic medium during a write process, the main pole has a front side at an air bearing surface (ABS) and includes a bottom portion with two sloped sides aligned perpendicular to the ABS and terminating at a back side and with a bottom surface contacting a top surface of a barrier layer, and an upper portion with two sides that are perpendicular to the ABS and terminating at a back end that is a greater distance from the ABS than the bottom portion back side; (b) a waveguide that captures light energy from a light source and propagates the light energy toward the ABS, the waveguide has a top surface that faces the bottom surface of the main pole and is separated from a planar bottom surface of a planar plasmon generator (PPG) by a first gap distance; (c) the PPG that couples light energy from the waveguide to a surface plasmon (SP) mode along the planar PPG bottom surface, the SP mode is propagated to the ABS and projected onto a localized region of the magnetic medium to facilitate the write process, the PPG comprises: (d) a composite heat sink that comprises: