Patent ID: 8619515

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 the head carrier and having a tip at the recording-layer-facing surface; a near-field transducer (NFT) layer on the head carrier oriented generally parallel to the write pole layer, the NFT layer having an output end at the recording-layer-facing surface; an optical waveguide layer on the head carrier oriented generally parallel to the NFT layer for guiding laser light to the NFT layer, the NFT layer being located between the waveguide layer and the write pole layer; a reflection layer oriented generally parallel to the waveguide layer, the waveguide layer being located between the reflection layer and the NFT layer; and electrically insulating material between the waveguide layer and the reflection layer and between the waveguide layer and the NFT layer; and wherein the height of the NFT layer in a direction orthogonal to the recording-layer-facing surface is H nft and the height H rl of the reflection layer is between 0.2 H nft and 1.2 H nft .