Patent ID: 8116171

Claim:
An energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) disk drive including a media comprising: a slider having a trailing face; at least one vertical surface emitting laser (VCSEL) including a plurality of quantum wells and an extended resonance cavity, the at least one VCSEL for providing energy to the EAMR disk drive, the extended resonance cavity extending into the slider and oriented substantially perpendicular to the trailing face of the slider, the extended resonance cavity and the plurality of quantum wells allowing the at least one VCSEL to lase; and at least one EAMR head on the slider, the at least one EAMR head including at least one grating, at least one waveguide, a write pole, and at least one coil for energizing the write pole, at least a portion of the at least one grating residing in the extended resonance cavity and coupling energy from the VCSEL to the at least one waveguide, the at least one waveguide directing the energy from the at least one grating toward the media.