Patent ID: 8315129

Claim:
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head, comprising: a pole that generates a writing magnetic field from an end surface that forms a part of an air bearing surface that opposes a magnetic recording medium; a waveguide through which light for exciting surface plasmon propagates; and a plasmon generator that couples to the light in a surface plasmon mode to generate near-field light from a near-field light generating end surface that forms a part of the air bearing surface, wherein the waveguide is arranged on a back side of the pole along a direction perpendicular to the air bearing surface from the perspective of the air bearing surface side, the plasmon generator has a plane part and a projection part that is projected from the plane part to the waveguide side and that opposes the pole and the waveguide with a predetermined gap, and a projection part opposing surface that opposes the projection part in the pole is configured so as to be distant from the projection part as approaching from the air bearing surface side toward the back side along the direction perpendicular to the air bearing surface.