Patent ID: 8422166

Claim:
A magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording, comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium; a coil that produces a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium; a main pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface, allows a magnetic flux corresponding to the magnetic field produced by the coil to pass, and produces a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system; a write shield that is made of a magnetic material and has an end face located in the medium facing surface; a gap part that is made of a nonmagnetic material and interposed between the main pole and the write shield; and a first return path section that is made of a magnetic material and located forward of the main pole in a direction of travel of the recording medium, wherein: the end face of the write shield includes a first end face portion that is located forward of the end face of the main pole in the direction of travel of the recording medium; the first return path section connects the write shield and part of the main pole away from the medium facing surface to each other so that a first space is defined by the main pole, the gap part, the write shield, and the first return path section; the coil includes at least one first coil element and a plurality of second coil elements extending to pass through the first space; the plurality of second coil elements are located forward of the at least one first coil element in the direction of travel of the recording medium; the first return path section includes a first portion located such that the at least one first coil element is interposed between the first portion and the medium facing surface, and a second portion located such that the plurality of second coil elements are interposed between the second portion and the medium facing surface; the second portion is located forward of the first portion in the direction of travel of the recording medium; and in a cross section that intersects the end face of the main pole located in the medium facing surface and that is parallel to the direction of travel of the recording medium and perpendicular to the medium facing surface, an end portion of the at least one first coil element that is located at a farthest position from the medium facing surface in the at least one first coil element is closer to the medium facing surface than is an end portion of the plurality of second coil elements that is located at a farthest position from the medium facing surface in the plurality of second coil elements, and an end portion of the first portion that is located at a closest position to the medium facing surface in the first portion is closer to the medium facing surface than is an end portion of the second portion that is located at a closest position to the medium facing surface in the second portion.