Near-field assisted magnetic recording

We propose a new hybrid head that generates both the magnetic field and the near field on a nano-sized region for high-density magnetic recording. Utilizing this hybrid head, the narrowest track width of 70 nm is achieved on TbFeCo media, which proves the near-field assisted magnetic recording beyond the diffraction limit of an optical pickup. The hybrid head demonstrated here constitutes a breakthrough toward the areal density of 1 Tb/in/sup 2/.