The present invention addresses the problem of providing an element which uses the current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance (CPPGMR) effect of a thin film having the three-layer structure of ferromagnetic metal/non-magnetic metal/ferromagnetic metal. The problem is solved by a magnetoresistive element provided with a lower ferromagnetic layer and an upper ferromagnetic layer which contain a Heusler alloy, and a spacer layer sandwiched between the lower ferromagnetic layer and the upper ferromagnetic layer, the magnetoresistive element being characterized in that the spacer layer contains an alloy having a bcc structure. Furthermore, it is preferable for the alloy to have a disordered bcc structure.

A stacked-thin-film structure that includes an Llo-ordered MnAl layer having high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). In some embodiments, the Ll0-ordered MnAl layer has an Mn content in a range of about 35% to about 65%, a thickness less than about 50 nm, a saturation magnetization of about 100 emu/cm3 to about 600 emu/cm3 and a magnetocrystalline anisotropy of at least 1×106 erg/cm. In some embodiments, the high-PMA Llo-ordered MnAl material is incorporated in magnetic tunneling junction stacked-film structures that are part of magnetoelectronic circuitry, such as spin-transfer-torque magnetoresistive random access memory circuitry and magnetic logic circuitry. In some embodiments, the high-PMA Llo-ordered MnAl material is incorporated into other devices, such as into read/write heads and/or recording media of hard-disk-drive devices.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a spin torque oscillator including an oscillation layer formed of a magnetic material, a spin injection layer formed of a magnetic material and configured to inject a spin into the oscillation layer, and a current confinement layer including an insulating portion formed of an oxide or a nitride and a conductive portion formed of a nonmagnetic metal and penetrating the insulating portion in a direction of stacking. The conductive portion of the current confinement layer is positioned near a central portion of a plane of a device region including the oscillation layer and the spin injection layer.

A magnetic element can be constructed by forming a write pole with a tip portion that continuously extends from an air bearing surface (ABS) along a plane orthogonal to the ABS to a body portion that continuously extends from the tip portion distal the ABS. A first write gap layer can then be deposited in contact with the write pole before a processing layer is deposited in contact with the first write gap layer. A magnetic shield may then be formed atop the processing layer with the magnetic shield being separated from the write pole by a first gap distance on the ABS throughout the tip portion and by a second gap distance distal the ABS along the plane orthogonal to the ABS along the body portion. The first and second gap distances can be measured parallel to the ABS with the second gap distance being greater than the first gap distance.

A magnetic write head having trailing magnetic shield and a trailing magnetic return pole that are recessed from the media facing surface. The magnetic write head includes a write pole, a trailing shield that is separated from the write pole by a non-magnetic trailing gap layer and a trailing magnetic return pole that is connected with the trailing magnetic shield. The trailing magnetic return pole and at least a portion of the trailing magnetic shield have surfaces that face the media facing surface. The surface of the trailing magnetic return pole and at least a portion of the surface of the trailing magnetic shield taper away from the media facing surface. This recess prevents far track interference by preventing stray magnetic fields from the trailing magnetic shield and trailing magnetic return pole from inadvertently affecting the magnetic media.

A magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording includes a read head unit, a write head unit disposed forward of the read head unit along the direction of travel of a recording medium, a heater that generates heat for causing the medium facing surface to protrude in part, an expansion layer that makes part of the medium facing surface protrude, and a sensor that detects contact of the part of the medium facing surface with the recording medium. The write head unit includes a main pole, a write shield, and a return path section. The return path section includes a yoke layer located backward of the main pole along the direction of travel of the recording medium, a first coupling part that couples the yoke layer and the write shield to each other, and a second coupling part that is located away from the medium facing surface and couples the yoke layer and the main pole to each other.

A storage device includes a transducer head with multiple write elements having write poles of different sizes. For example, the transducer head may include two write poles of different width configured to write to a same surface of a storage medium. A controller of the storage device is configured to selectively engage one of the multiple write elements to write data to the storage medium.

According to one embodiment, a heat assisted magnetic recording system includes a magnetic recording medium comprising a magnetic recording layer, where the magnetic recording layer includes a plurality of physical bits. Each physical bit has a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and one of at least three magnetic states, where the at least three magnetic states include a +1 magnetic state, a 0 magnetic state, and a −1 magnetic state.

A magnetic write apparatus has a media-facing surface (MFS), a pole, a write gap, a top shield and coil(s). The pole includes a yoke and a pole tip. The pole tip includes a bottom, a top wider than the bottom and first and second sides. The pole tip has a height between the top and the bottom. At least part of the top of the pole tip is convex in a cross-track direction between the first and second sides such that the height at the MFS is larger between the first and second sides than at the first and second sides. The height increases in a yoke direction perpendicular to the MFS. The write gap is adjacent to and conformal with the top of the pole at the MFS and is between part of the top shield and the pole. The top shield is concave at the MFS.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head has a gas-bearing slider that supports a a main magnetic pole, a near-field transducer (NFT) and a waveguide optically coupled to the NFT. Optically reflective side shields are located adjacent the cross-track sides of the waveguide at the slider's gas-bearing surface (GBS). The side shields may also be located adjacent the cross-track sides of the NFT and extend in the along-the-track direction to the write head's magnetic return pole. The cross-track gap width between a portion of the side shields adjacent the NFT at the GBS may be different from the cross-track gap width between a portion of the side shields adjacent the waveguide end at the GBS.