2004 Volume 4 Issue 4-2 Pages 166-171
We review the fundamental issue standing in the path of continued improvement in areal density in magnetic hard disk drives, namely, the superparagmagnetic effect. We also describe some of the optical components of a hybrid or heat assisted magnetic recording system, which is one possible solution to this technical challenge. We note the potential for heat assisted magnetic recording to achieve increased information storage densities at reasonable signal to noise ratios. Finally we identify an issue exacerbated by the introduction of thermal assistance of magnetic recording, namely that of the additional thermal load on the slider. We describe an experimental apparatus that we have employed to quantify the temperature rise in a slider when it is subjected to particular thermal loads at various locations on the slider body.
