Patent ID: 8810964

Claim:
An assembly comprising: a magnetic pole assembly having a coil energizable to induce a magnetic flux in a pole having a pole tip including a leading edge, a trailing edge, a first side edge and a second side edge; a first side shield portion coextending along and spaced from the first side edge of the pole tip to form a first gap region between the first side shield portion and the first side edge and a second side shield portion coextending along and spaced from the second side edge of the pole tip to form a second gap region between the second side shield portion and the second side edge of the pole tip wherein, the first and second side shield portions are formed of a graded magnetic moment material to provide a variable magnetic moment along a length of the first and second side shield portions; and a magnetically insulating material in the first gap region between the first side shield portion and the first side edge and the second gap region between the second side shield portion and the second side edge.