Patent ID: 8503270

Claim:
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a magnetic recording medium; a magnetic pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface and produces a write magnetic field for writing data on the magnetic recording medium; a waveguide including a core and a cladding, the core allowing light to propagate therethrough; and a plasmon generator, wherein: the plasmon generator has a near-field light generating part located in the medium facing surface, and is configured so that a surface plasmon is excited on the plasmon generator based on the light propagating through the core and the near-field light generating part generates near-field light based on the surface plasmon; and the plasmon generator and the magnetic pole are disposed to align in a direction of travel of the magnetic recording medium, the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head further comprising an amorphous layer made of a nonmagnetic metal, the amorphous layer being interposed between and in contact with the plasmon generator and the magnetic pole.