A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) disk has a magnetic recording layer (typically a FePt chemically-ordered alloy), a seed-thermal barrier layer (typically MgO) below the recording layer, a heat-sink layer, and an optical-coupling multilayer of alternating plasmonic and non-plasmonic materials between the heat-sink layer and the seed-thermal barrier layer. Unlike a heat sink layer, the multilayer has very low in-plane and out-of-plane thermal conductivity and thus does not function as a heat sink layer. The multilayer's low thermal conductivity allows the multilayer to also function as a thermal barrier. Due to the plasmonic materials in the multilayer it provides excellent optical coupling with the near-field transducer (NFT) of the HAMR disk drive.

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to a magnetic recording head that includes a main pole, a leading shield, a first side shield disposed on a first side of the main pole, a second side shield disposed on a second side of the main pole, and a trailing shield. The trailing shield is disposed on a trailing side of the main pole. One or more approaches are disclosed to control return-fluxes. In some embodiments, at least one of the upper return pole, the leading shield, the trailing shield, the first side shield, and the second side shield includes a laminate structure having at least a pair of ferromagnetic layers, and a non-magnetic spacer layer disposed between adjacent ferromagnetic layers. In some embodiments, one or more shunts are positioned, such as connecting the leading shield to the upper return pole in order to create circuits to control magnetic flux.

A magnetic tape device. The angle θ formed by the axis of the element array of the magnetic head with respect to a width direction of the magnetic tape is changed during running of the magnetic tape in the magnetic tape device. In a case where a maximum value of an absolute value of a difference between a servo band spacing obtained before storage in a predetermined environment and a servo band spacing obtained after storage in the environment for a storage time T is defined as A, and T is set to a plurality of predetermined times, a medium life calculated by a linear function of A and a logarithm log.sub.e T of T, that are derived from a value of A and a value of the logarithm log.sub.e T of T obtained for each T is 5 years or longer.

A magnetic tape device. The angle θ formed by the axis of the element array of the magnetic head with respect to a width direction of the magnetic tape is changed during running of the magnetic tape in the magnetic tape device. In a case where a maximum value of an absolute value of a difference between a servo band spacing obtained before storage in a predetermined environment and a servo band spacing obtained after storage in the environment for a storage time T is defined as A, and T is set to a plurality of predetermined times, a medium life calculated by a linear function of A and a logarithm log.sub.e T of T, that are derived from a value of A and a value of the logarithm log.sub.e T of T obtained for each T is 5 years or longer.

According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a plurality of recording media, a plurality of magnetic heads, a plurality of blades, and a housing. The recording medium has a recording surface, is rotatable around a rotation axis extending in an axial direction intersecting the recording surface, and is aligned in the axial direction. The magnetic head is configured to read and write information from and to the plurality of recording media. The plurality of first blades forms a spoiler, and the first blades of the plurality are located in a plurality of gaps provided between the plurality of recording media. The housing is provided with an inner chamber in which the plurality of recording media, the plurality of magnetic heads, and the plurality of first blades are accommodated. The number of first blades is smaller than the number of gaps.

According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a plurality of recording media, a plurality of magnetic heads, a plurality of blades, and a housing. The recording medium has a recording surface, is rotatable around a rotation axis extending in an axial direction intersecting the recording surface, and is aligned in the axial direction. The magnetic head is configured to read and write information from and to the plurality of recording media. The plurality of first blades forms a spoiler, and the first blades of the plurality are located in a plurality of gaps provided between the plurality of recording media. The housing is provided with an inner chamber in which the plurality of recording media, the plurality of magnetic heads, and the plurality of first blades are accommodated. The number of first blades is smaller than the number of gaps.

A magnetic read head is provided, comprising a bottom magnetic shield, a first free magnetic layer, a second free magnetic layer, and a top magnetic shield, arranged from bottom to top in this order in a stacking direction from a leading side to a trailing side of the read head. A non-soft bias layer is positioned below the top magnetic shield and on a back side of the first and the second free magnetic layers. The top magnetic shield has a unidirectional anisotropy, the magnetic moments of the top and the bottom magnetic shields are canted relative to a plane of the first and the second free magnetic layers, and the top and the bottom magnetic shields are decoupled from the non-soft bias layer and not magnetically coupled to a soft bias layer.

A magnetic head includes a first magnetic pole, a second magnetic pole, a magnetic element, and a magnetic member. The magnetic element is provided between the first and second magnetic poles, and includes a first magnetic layer. The magnetic member includes a first magnetic part. A second direction from the first magnetic part to the magnetic element crosses a first direction from the first to second magnetic pole. The first magnetic part includes a magnetic material including at least one of first to third materials. The first material includes at least one selected from the group consisting of Mn.sub.3Sn, Mn.sub.3Ge and Mn.sub.3Ga. The second material includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a cubic or tetragonal compound including Mn and Ni, a cubic alloy including γ-phase Mn, and a cubic alloy including Fe. The third material includes an antiferromagnet.

A STRAMR structure is disclosed. The STRAMR structure can include a spin torque oscillator (STO) device in a WG provided between the mail pole (MP) trailing side and a trailing shield. The STO device, includes: a flux guiding layer that has a negative spin polarization (nFGL) with a magnetization pointing substantially parallel to the WG field without the current bias and formed between a first spin polarization preserving layer (ppL1) and a second spin polarization preserving layer (ppL2); a positive spin polarization (pSP) layer that adjoins the TS bottom surface; a non-spin polarization preserving layer (pxL) contacting the MP trailing side; a first negative spin injection layer (nSIL1) between the ppL2 and a third spin polarization preserving layer (ppL3); and a second negative spin injection layer (nSIL2) between the ppL3 and the pxL, wherein the nFGL, nSIL1, and nSIL2 have a spin polarization that is negative.

A magnetic head includes a first magnetic pole, a second magnetic pole, and a stacked body provided between the first and second magnetic poles. The stacked body includes a first magnetic member, a second magnetic member provided between the first magnetic member and the second magnetic pole, a first layer provided between the first and second magnetic members, and a second layer provided between the second magnetic member and the second magnetic pole. The first magnetic member includes first magnetic regions and a first nonmagnetic region. The first nonmagnetic region is between the one of the first magnetic regions and the other one of the first magnetic regions.