Patent ID: 8456963

Claim:
An energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) disk drive comprising: a suspension, a slider having a back side, a laser-facing surface, and an air-bearing surface (ABS) opposite the back side, the slider being mounted to the suspension on the back side, the laser-facing surface being substantially perpendicular to the suspension; at least one EAMR transducer coupled with the slider, at least a portion of the EAMR transducer residing in proximity to the ABS and on the laser-facing surface of the slider; and at least one laser coupled with the suspension and having a light emitting surface facing the laser-facing surface of the slider, each of the at least one laser having an optic axis substantially parallel to the suspension, the at least one laser providing energy substantially along the optic axis and being optically coupled with the EAMR transducer via free space, the at least one EAMR transducer receiving the energy from the at least one laser and writing to the media using the energy; wherein the at least one laser is oriented such that the optic axis is at a nonzero angle from a perpendicular to the laser-facing surface of the slider.