Abstract
We investigated the effect of transition curvature on track edge noise through experiments and calculations. We measured and calculated two types of recording heads that had similar magnetic write widths, but different transition curvatures. In both the measurements and calculations, the track edge noise increased more at high linear density with the head with larger transition curvature, due to its wider erase band, which was considered to be noise source at the track edge. We also clarified that reducing the transition curvature was effective to increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), especially at high linear density, and that reducing the track edge fluctuation was effective to increase SNR, especially at low linear density. Therefore, reducing both the transition curvature and track edge fluctuation is necessary to reduce track edge noise and consequently achieve high areal density.
