1996 Volume 20 Issue 2 Pages 117-120
The magnetization distributions for the magnetoresistive (MR) layer and the soft adiacent layer (SAL) in a shielded MR head were numerically analyzed by using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. The signal amplitude asymmetry (As) dependences on the bias current (Ib) and the saturation magnetization in the SAL (MsSAL) were calculated to show that a symmetrical signal can be obtained for a certain Ib by optimizing the MsSAL value. The sensitivity for zero As depends on the MsSAL value, and a smaller MsSAL value fives a higher signal sensitivity. For a large MsSAL value, the SAL layer magntization is changed by the medium stray field, which reduces the effective field in the MR layer and the signal sensitivity. When the magnrtization in the SAL is in the vertical direction and that in the MR layer is in the 45-degree direction, the MR head shows the highest signal sensitivity and zero As.)