Patent ID: 7440240

Claim:
A magnetic head, comprising: a ferromagnetic pinned layer having a magnetizing direction pinned substantially with respect to a magnetic field to be perceived; a soft magnetic free layer formed on said ferromagnetic pinned layer through a non-magnetic intermediate layer and having a magnetizing direction that rotates in accordance with said magnetic field; a soft magnetic anti-parallel layer formed on said soft magnetic free layer through an anti-parallel coupling layer; and a domain-stabilization ferromagnetic layer formed on said soft magnetic anti-parallel layer through a weak anti-parallel coupling layer and having a magnetizing direction pinned substantially in a direction approximately orthogonal to said magnetic field; wherein said soft magnetic free layer and said soft magnetic anti-parallel layer are coupled through said anti-parallel coupling layer in an antiferromagnetic manner strongly substantially with respect to said magnetic field; and wherein said soft magnetic anti-parallel layer and said domain-stabilization ferromagnetic layer are coupled through said weak anti-parallel coupling layer in an antiferromagnetic manner equally to or more weakly than said magnetic field substantially.