Patent ID: 8355299

Claim:
A heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium; a magnetic pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface and produces a recording magnetic field for recording data on the recording medium; a waveguide that allows light to propagate therethrough; a near-field light generating element having a near-field light generating part located in the medium facing surface, a surface plasmon being excited based on the light propagating through the waveguide, the surface plasmon propagating to the near-field light generating part, the near-field light generating part generating near-field light based on the surface plasmon; a convergent lens; and a substrate having a top surface, wherein: the magnetic pole, the waveguide, the near-field light generating element, and the convergent lens are disposed above the top surface of the substrate; the near-field light generating element has an outer surface that includes: a first end face that is located in the medium facing surface; a second end face that is farther from the medium facing surface; and a coupling portion that couples the first end face and the second end face to each other, the first end face including the near-field light generating part; a length of the near-field light generating element in a direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface is greater than a length of the first end face in a direction perpendicular to the top surface of the substrate; the waveguide has an outer surface including an opposed portion that is opposed to a part of the coupling portion; and the convergent lens transmits light that is emitted from a light source disposed above the waveguide, so that the light transmitted through the convergent lens is incident on the waveguide.