Patent ID: 8194509

Claim:
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head comprising: a light source provided in an element-integration surface of a substrate, and having a multilayered structure including a photonic-band layer having a periodic structure in which a light generated from an active region resonates, and the light source having a light-emitting surface that is a layer surface as an end surface of the multilayered structure and is opposed to the element-integration surface; a diffraction optical element that converges a light emitted from the light-emitting surface; a light-path changer that changes a propagation direction of the converged light; a waveguide that propagates the light, whose propagation direction is changed by the light-path changer, toward an opposed-to-medium surface; a magnetic pole that generates write field from its end surface on the opposed-to-medium surface side, provided in the element-integration surface of the substrate, and a spot-size converter that converts a spot size of the light whose propagation direction is changed by the light-path changer.