Patent ID: 8467147

Claim:
A magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a first coil and a second coil each generating a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium; a pole layer having an end face located in the medium facing surface, allowing a magnetic flux corresponding to the field generated by each of the first and second coils to pass therethrough, and generating a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system; and a shield, wherein: the shield incorporates: a first portion located backward of the pole layer along a direction of travel of the recording medium; and a second portion located forward of the pole layer along the direction of travel of the recording medium; each of the first and second portions is connected to the pole layer at a location away from the medium facing surface; the first portion is recessed away from the medium facing surface; the second portion includes a first layer and a second layer, the first layer having an end face located in the medium facing surface, the second layer being located forward of the first layer along the direction of travel of the recording medium and connected to the first layer; part of the first coil passes through a space surrounded by the pole layer and the first portion; and part of the second coil passes through a space surrounded by the pole layer and the second portion, the magnetic head further comprising: a coupling portion coupling the first portion and the first layer to each other without touching the pole layer; and a gap layer made of a nonmagnetic material and disposed between the pole layer and the first layer, wherein: in the medium facing surface, the end face of the first layer is located forward of the end face of the pole layer along the direction of travel of the recording medium with a specific space created therebetween by a thickness of the gap layer; the end face of the pole layer has a side located adjacent to the gap layer, the side defining a track width; the first layer incorporates a middle portion including a portion opposed to the pole layer with the gap layer disposed in between, and two side portions located outside the middle portion along a direction of track width, and a maximum length of each of the side portions taken in a direction orthogonal to the medium facing surface is greater than a length of the middle portion taken in the direction orthogonal to the medium facing surface; and the second layer is recessed away from the medium facing surface and does not touch the middle portion but touches the two side portions.