Patent ID: 6225595
Filing Date: 2001-05-01
Classification: B23K,G11B

Abstract:
A process for surface texturing a magnetic data storage medium, including:directing a coherent energy beam from a source thereof toward a magnetic data storage medium, said coherent energy beam having substantially the form of a circular cylinder and having a first non-uniform intensity profile;locating beam shaping optics between the source and the data storage medium, thereby shaping the beam to provide a shaped beam segment along which sections taken through the beam segment perpendicular to beam propagation have substantially elliptical shapes defined by perpendicular major and minor beam axes, said shaped beam segment having a second intensity profile relatively broader in the direction parallel to the major beam axis and relatively narrower in the direction of the minor beam axis, and otherwise substantially the same as the first intensity profile; andcausing the shaped beam segment to impinge upon a selected surface of the storage medium at a plurality of locations thereon, altering the topography of the selected surface at each of said locations by forming a non-circular and elongate texturing feature having a major feature axis and a minor feature axis, wherein the texturing features are oriented with their major feature axes aligned substantially in a predetermined direction.