Patent ID: 8923098

Claim:
A TAMR (thermally assisted magnetic recording) head slider, comprising: a slider substrate having a horizontal planar back end surface and a horizontal planar ABS (air bearing surface); a waveguide extending through said slider from said slider back end surface to said slider ABS end, wherein said waveguide has a dielectric core and is surrounded by a dielectric cladding, a laser diode source of optical frequency electromagnetic radiation is affixed to said planar back end surface of said slider and is electromagnetically coupled to said waveguide thereat; wherein a plasmon generator is formed between said write element and said waveguide; wherein said waveguide is smoothly bent in an S-shaped curve to create a curved centerline; or wherein said waveguide centerline is a straight line that is tilted at the same constant angle relative to a normal to said ABS and to said back end surface; reflections of said electromagnetic radiation, originating at interfacial surfaces and at regions of radiative coupling and proceeding in a direction back towards said laser diode are suppressed by failing to satisfy critical angle criteria set by dielectric constants of said core dielectric material and dielectric cladding material and wherein cavity modes of said laser are thereby stable.