Spin stand characterization of dielectric optical waveguides fabricated on AlTiC sliders for heat-assisted magnetic recording

Abstract

Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), also known as hybrid recording, is one of the technologies proposed for extending hard disk drive areal densities beyond a Tb/in². Due to their planar nature and compatibility with existing hard disk drive head fabrication techniques, dielectric optical waveguides have been suggested as a means for delivering light directly to the recording medium or near field optical transducer. In this paper we present spin stand experimental results from a dielectric optical slab waveguide fabricated on an AlTiC slider.