Patent ID: 8619514

Claim:
A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer comprising: a head carrier having a recording-layer-facing surface; a write pole layer on a surface generally orthogonal to the recording-layer-facing surface of the head carrier and having a tip at the recording-layer-facing surface; an optical waveguide layer on the head carrier oriented generally parallel to the write pole layer; a near-field transducer (NFT) layer on the head carrier oriented generally parallel to the write pole layer and located between the write pole layer and the optical waveguide layer, the NFT layer having an output tip at the recording-layer-facing surface and an input edge recessed a distance D 1 from the recording-layer-facing surface, the output tip having an apex facing the write pole tip and a back edge facing the waveguide layer and wider than the apex; and wherein the optical waveguide layer has a thickness generally parallel to the recording-layer-facing surface, a length generally orthogonal to the recording-layer-facing surface, a width that tapers linearly from a width W 1 at a region recessed from the recording-layer-facing surface and to a width W 2 less than W 1 wherein the end of the optical waveguide layer having said width W 2 is substantially coplanar with the recording-layer-facing surface.