A cleaning head and methods for removing contaminants from a data storage media, the cleaning head having a cleaning surface comprising a self-assembled monolayer, with the cleaning surface leading a read/write transducer. The self-assembled monolayer is selected to have a terminal functional group that has a high affinity to the contaminant(s) desired to be attracted and/or removed.

According to an embodiment, a control method for a heat-assisted magnetic recording and reproducing device including a heat-assisted magnetic recording head including a main pole, a near-field transducer generating near-field light, a waveguide propagating light to the near-field transducer, and a laser light source supplying light to the waveguide, and a heat-assisted magnetic recording medium that has a lubricant layer on a recording surface opposing the head, includes irradiating the near-field light on the medium with a second laser current value set lower than a first laser current value at a time of write, and operating the head, thereby performing a smoothing process on the surface of the lubricant layer.