Patent ID: 8107192

Claim:
A heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprising a slider, an edge-emitting laser diode fixed to the slider, and an external mirror provided outside the slider and fixed to the laser diode, the slider comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium; a magnetic pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface and produces a recording magnetic field for recording data on the recording medium; a waveguide that allows light to propagate therethrough; a near-field light generating element having a near-field light generating part located in the medium facing surface, a surface plasmon being excited based on the light propagating through the waveguide, the surface plasmon propagating to the near-field light generating part, the near-field light generating part generating near-field light based on the surface plasmon; and a substrate on which the magnetic pole, the near-field light generating element and the waveguide are stacked, wherein: the laser diode includes: an active layer; an emitting end face that lies at an end in a direction parallel to a plane of the active layer and includes an emission part for emitting laser light; a mounting surface that lies at an end in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the active layer and faces the slider; and a rear surface that is opposite to the mounting surface; the external mirror includes: a first to-be-fixed part disposed along the emitting end face; a second to-be-fixed part disposed along the rear surface; and a coupling part that couples the first to-be-fixed part and the second to-be-fixed part to each other; the first to-be-fixed part has a first surface that faces the emitting end face, a second surface opposite to the first surface, and an end face that lies at an end opposite to the coupling part and connects the first surface and the second surface to each other; the end face includes a reflecting surface that reflects the laser light emitted from the emission part toward the waveguide; and the reflecting surface is oblique with respect to the first surface and continuous with the first surface.