Patent ID: 8023225

Claim:
A thermally assisted magnetic head comprising: a main magnetic pole layer having a magnetic pole end part exposed at a medium-opposing surface opposing a magnetic recording medium; and an optical waveguide including a first layer and a second layer, adjacent to the first layer, having a refractive index higher than that of the first layer and deflecting thermally assisting light incident thereon into a laminating direction; wherein the main magnetic pole layer is positioned on a side where the light is deflected by the optical waveguide; wherein the magnetic pole end part projects to the side where the light is deflected by the optical waveguide; wherein the optical waveguide projects more than the magnetic pole end part on a medium-opposing surface side; and wherein a near-field-light-emitting part is provided at an end face in a longitudinal direction of the optical waveguide, the near-field-light-emitting part being located on the medium-opposing surface side.