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.

A method of producing a magnetic powder includes: performing heat treatment on first particles that contain triiron tetraoxide to prepare second particles that contain ε-iron oxide.

A magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, and a magnetic recording layer including magnetic grains having an L1.sub.0 structure. The magnetic recording layer is (001) oriented, and a surface of growth of the magnetic recording layer includes a (001) plane, a (111) plane, and planes equivalent to the (111) plane. An area ratio of the (111) plane and the planes equivalent to the (111) plane, represented by (A.sub.111+A.sub.111e)/(A.sub.001+A.sub.111+A.sub.111e), is in a range of 0.2 to 0.7, where A.sub.111 denotes an area of the (111) plane, A.sub.111e denotes an area of the planes equivalent to the (111) plane, and A.sub.001 denotes an area of the (001) plane.

The magnetic tape includes a non-magnetic support, and a magnetic layer containing a ferromagnetic powder, in which an edge portion Ra which is an arithmetic average roughness Ra measured at an edge portion of a surface of the magnetic layer is 1.50 nm or less, a central portion Ra which is an arithmetic average roughness Ra measured at a central portion of the surface of the magnetic layer is 0.30 nm to 1.30 nm, and a Ra ratio (central portion Ra/edge portion Ra) is 0.75 to 0.95.

The magnetic recording medium includes a non-magnetic support, and a magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic powder. The ferromagnetic powder is a ferromagnetic powder selected from the group consisting of a hexagonal strontium ferrite powder and an ε-iron oxide powder. The standard deviation of a height of the magnetic projection portion on a surface of the magnetic layer is in a range of 0.5 to 2.5 nm.

Provided is a ferromagnetic powder for magnetic recording, in which an activation volume is 800 nm.sup.3 to 1,500 nm.sup.3, an average plate ratio is 2.0 to 5.0, a rare earth atom content is 0.5 atom % to 5.0 atom %, and an aluminum atom content is greater than 10.0 atom % and equal to or smaller than 20.0 atom %, with respect to 100 atom % of iron atom, and the ferromagnetic powder is a plate-shaped hexagonal strontium ferrite powder having a rare earth atom surface layer portion uneven distribution and an aluminum atom surface layer portion uneven distribution, and a magnetic recording medium including this ferromagnetic powder for magnetic recording in a magnetic layer.

A magnetic recording medium includes a flexible and elongated substrate, a soft magnetic layer having an average thickness of 10 nm or more to 50 nm or less, and a recording layer. The soft magnetic layer is disposed between the substrate and the recording layer, and a difference in Young's modulus between the magnetic recording medium and the substrate in a longitudinal direction of the substrate is 2.4 GPa or more.

It is an object to provide a magnetic recording medium that enables good reproduction even after long-term preservation and that has a small overall thickness. The present technology provides a tape-shaped magnetic recording medium including a magnetic layer, a ground layer, a base layer, and a back layer, in which an average thickness tT of the magnetic recording medium is equal to or less than 5.3 μm, and, when the magnetic recording medium is subjected to dynamic viscoelasticity measurement at a frequency of 10 Hz and a temperature rise rate of 2° C./min, a difference between a maximum and a minimum of a viscosity term E″ in a temperature range of 0° C. to 80° C. is equal to or less than 0.18 GPa. In addition, the present technology also provides a tape cartridge including the tape-shaped magnetic recording medium.

The present invention aims at providing a magnetic recording medium that can lower a Curie temperature (Tc) of a magnetic material, without increasing an in-plane coercive force and lowering magnetic properties. The magnetic recording medium is a magnetic recording medium comprising a substrate and a magnetic recording layer, the magnetic recording layer comprising an FePtRh ordered alloy, wherein a Rh content in the FePtRh ordered alloy is 10 at % or less.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media stack is provided in which Iridium (Ir)-based materials may be utilized as a secondary underlayer instead of a Magnesium Oxide (MgO) underlayer utilized in conventional media stacks. Such Ir-based materials may include, e.g., pure Ir, Ir-based alloys, Ir-based compounds, as well as a granular Ir layer with segregants. The use of Ir or Ir-based materials as an underlayer provide advantages over the use of MgO as an underlayer. For example, DC sputtering can be utilized to deposit the layers of the media stack, where the deposition rate of Ir is considerably higher than that of MgO resulting in higher manufacturing production yields. Further still, less particles are generated during Ir-based layer deposition processes, and Ir-based underlayer can act as a better heat sink. Further still, the morphology and structure of a recording layer deposited on an Ir-based layer can be better controlled.