Patent ID: 8345384

Claim:
A magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording, comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium; a coil that produces a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on a recording medium; a main pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface, allows a magnetic flux corresponding to the magnetic field produced by the coil to pass, and produces a write magnetic field for writing the data on a recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system; a write shield that is made of a magnetic material and has an end face located in the medium facing surface; and a gap part that is made of a nonmagnetic material and interposed between the main pole and the write shield, wherein: the end face of the write shield includes a first end face portion that is located forward of the end face of the main pole in a direction of travel of a recording medium; the main pole has a top surface, and a bottom end opposite to the top surface, the top surface being a surface located at a forward end in the direction of travel of a recording medium; at least one of the top surface and the bottom end of the main pole includes a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion that are contiguously arranged in this order of increasing distance from the medium facing surface; the first portion has a first end located in the medium facing surface, and a second end opposite to the first end; the third portion has a third end connected to the second portion, and a fourth end that is located farther from the medium facing surface than is the third end; the end face of the main pole has an end located forward in the direction of travel of a recording medium and an end located backward in the direction of travel of a recording medium; a first virtual plane and a second virtual plane, the first virtual plane passing through the end of the end face of the main pole located forward in the direction of travel of a recording medium and being perpendicular to the medium facing surface and to the direction of travel of a recording medium, the second virtual plane passing through the end of the end face of the main pole located backward in the direction of travel of a recording medium and being perpendicular to the medium facing surface and to the direction of travel of a recording medium, the first portion is inclined relative to the first and second virtual planes and the medium facing surface such that the second end is located farther from the first and second virtual planes than is the first end; the second portion is substantially parallel to the first and second virtual planes; the third portion is inclined relative to the first and second virtual planes and the medium facing surface such that the fourth end is located farther from the first and second virtual planes than is the third end; and the write shield includes a portion interposed between the third portion and the medium facing surface.