Near-field optical transducer for heat-assisted magnetic recording for beyond-10-Tbit/in² densities

Continuous device downscaling, growing integration densities of the nanoscale electronics and development of alternative information processing paradigms, such as spintronics and quantum computing, call for drastic increase in the data storage capacity. In this paper we review our recent results for the design, fabrication and characterization of the near-field optical transducer for heat-assisted magnetic recording for beyond the 10-Tbit/in² densities. In order to record information, the heat-assisted magnetic recording system uses not only magnetic but also thermal energy. For this reason the recording media with the substantially higher anisotropy could be utilized to achieve the ultra-high recording densities. In this review, we provide details of the design of the near-field transducer capable of delivering over 50 μW power into a spot with the diameter of 30 nm. Heat-assisted magnetic recording and spin-based information processing require accurate thermal management of magnetic thin films. Here we report the results of our preliminary investigation of thermal transport in Pd/CoPd/Pd magnetic multilayers with the thickness of individual layers in the nanometer range.