The present disclosure relates to pretreating a magnetic recording head. For a HAMR head, a NFT is present. Current can be applied to the NFT to condition the NFT. The current is applied in one of three ways: slowly ramping up the current from a starting level below a level capable of writing data to the optical laser current over a predetermined period of time, applying the current at a fixed value below the optical laser current for the predetermined period of time, or slowly ramping up the current from a starting level below a level capable of writing data to the optical laser current over the predetermined period of time while also intermittently removing the current. By conditioning the NFT in such a manner, the HAMR head can avoid thermal shock and thermal fatigue and thus increase the lifetime of the magnetic media drive.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a near-field transducer (NFT). The NFT includes a near-field emitter configured to heat a surface of a magnetic disk, and a plasmonic disk. The plasmonic disk is coupled to the near-field emitter and includes rhodium or iridium.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a near-field transducer (NFT). The NFT includes a near-field emitter configured to heat a surface of a magnetic disk, and a plasmonic disk. The plasmonic disk is coupled to the near-field emitter and includes rhodium or iridium.

Methods of forming a near field transducer (NFT), the methods including the steps of depositing plasmonic material on a substrate; laser annealing at least a portion of the deposited plasmonic material at a wavelength from 100 nm to 2.0 micrometers (μm) to induce liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) in the annealed deposited plasmonic material to form a epitaxially modified plasmonic material; and forming a NFT from at least a portion of the epitaxially modified plasmonic material are disclosed as well as other methods and devices such as those formed.

Methods of forming a near field transducer (NFT), the methods including the steps of depositing plasmonic material on a substrate; laser annealing at least a portion of the deposited plasmonic material at a wavelength from 100 nm to 2.0 micrometers (μm) to induce liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) in the annealed deposited plasmonic material to form a epitaxially modified plasmonic material; and forming a NFT from at least a portion of the epitaxially modified plasmonic material are disclosed as well as other methods and devices such as those formed.

The present disclosure relates to a recording head that includes a write pole extending to a media-facing surface of the recording head; a near-field transducer extending to a media-facing surface of the recording head; a trailing return pole positioned between the write pole and the trailing edge; and a recessed portion that is recessed relative to the media-facing surface by a distance when no power is applied to the recording head. The trailing return pole is located in the recessed portion. The present disclosure also includes relates methods of making and detecting contact between a recording head and recording medium.

The present disclosure relates to a recording head that includes a write pole extending to a media-facing surface of the recording head; a near-field transducer extending to a media-facing surface of the recording head; a trailing return pole positioned between the write pole and the trailing edge; and a recessed portion that is recessed relative to the media-facing surface by a distance when no power is applied to the recording head. The trailing return pole is located in the recessed portion. The present disclosure also includes relates methods of making and detecting contact between a recording head and recording medium.

A diode-laser-based active transducer integrated on a heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a diode laser structure, as a laser source, and a waveguide-transducer integrated with the laser structure as an intracavity element. Being a part of the laser cavity, the waveguide-transducer very efficiently delivers and couples the high-intensity intracavity laser light to a plasmonic antenna/transducer that concentrates the delivered near-field light to an optical spot of subwavelength nano-size volume to locally heat the surface of the magnetic recording medium.

A diode-laser-based active transducer integrated on a heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a diode laser structure, as a laser source, and a waveguide-transducer integrated with the laser structure as an intracavity element. Being a part of the laser cavity, the waveguide-transducer very efficiently delivers and couples the high-intensity intracavity laser light to a plasmonic antenna/transducer that concentrates the delivered near-field light to an optical spot of subwavelength nano-size volume to locally heat the surface of the magnetic recording medium.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head has a protective multilayer confined to a window of the disk-facing surface of the slider that surrounds the near-field transducer (NFT) end and write pole end. The protective multilayer is made up of a first film of silicon nitride directly on and in contact with the NFT end and the write pole end and a second film of a metal oxide on and in contact with the silicon nitride film. The silicon nitride film is preferably formed by RIBD but is thin enough so that it does not contain any significant amount of other compounds. The metal oxide is preferably silicon dioxide, or alternatively an oxide of hafnium, tantalum, yttrium or zirconium, and together with the silicon nitride film provides a protective multilayer of sufficient thickness to be optically transparent to radiation and resistant to thermal oxidation.