Patent ID: 8395974

Claim:
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head that has an air bearing surface (ABS) that faces a magnetic recording medium, and that performs magnetic recording while heating the magnetic recording medium, comprising: a waveguide that includes a core through which light from a laser beam source propagates and a cladding that surrounds the periphery of the core; a magnetic pole that generates magnetic flux toward the magnetic recording medium; a plasmon generator that faces a part of the core and extends to the ABS, that couples to propagation light that propagates through the core in a surface plasmon mode, and that generates surface plasmon; a near-field light generating part that is an end part of the plasmon generator on the ABS side and that generates near-field light from the surface plasmon; a heat generation element that thermally expands the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head; and a dielectric body that covers at least a part of the plasmon generator positioned on the ABS.