Patent ID: 8493821

Claim:
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium; a main pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface and produces a write magnetic field for writing data on the recording medium; a waveguide including a core through which light propagates, and a cladding that surrounds the core; a plasmon generator having a near-field light generating part located in the medium facing surface, the plasmon generator being 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 a first shield made of a magnetic material, the first shield being located on a rear side in a direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the main pole, wherein: the first shield has: an end face that is located in the medium facing surface and lies on the rear side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the end face of the main pole; and a top surface facing toward the main pole; the end face of the main pole and the end face of the first shield are at a distance of 50 to 300 nm from each other; the near-field light generating part is located between the end face of the main pole and the end face of the first shield in the medium facing surface; and at least part of the plasmon generator is present between the top surface of the first shield and the main pole, whereas no part of the core is present therebetween.