HEAT-ASSISTED MAGNETIC RECORDING (HAMR) SLIDER WITH STRAY LIGHT REMOVAL

• Main Authors: STIPE, Barry Cushing, MATSUMOTO, Takuya, SHI, Norman
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 18.09.2024
• Subjects: INFORMATION STORAGE; INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORDCARRIER AND TRANSDUCER; PHYSICS

A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) disk drive uses a semiconductor laser mounted on a slider to deliver light to a near-field transducer (NFT) via a waveguide located inside the slider. The waveguide includes a core and cladding material that is transparent to the laser light and surrounds the core. Layers of stray light absorption material are located inside the slider on opposite edges of the waveguide core in the same plane as the core and on opposite sides of the waveguide core in planes spaced from the plane of the core. Portions of the waveguide cladding material are located between the waveguide core and the stray light absorption layers. The stray light absorption layers absorb light that leaks into the cladding material and substantially reduces stray light reflected to the laser to prevent undesirable laser power fluctuation.