Effective design and performance of an optical flying head for near-field recording

We studied the effective design of a head structure to realize a practical optical flying head (OFH) for near-field recording (NFR) with both high optical performance and reasonable tolerance in assembly. In the design of the OFH, several major issues such as productivity, performance and reliability were considered. In order to realize a stable and reliable OFH with high performance, we designed a slider structure, air bearing surface (ABS), coil for magneto optical (MO) recording, main optical pickup unit (OPU), suspension and gimbal structure, disk media for good head-disk interface, and so forth. With a view to the reliability of OFH, durability and flying stability for various plastic disks as well as on a conventional glass disk were investigated. Also with a view to the practical applicability, we proposed two OFH designs with simple and effective slider structures, namely a slot slider and a barrel slider. In addition, basic flying characteristics and optical performance of the OFH mounted with high NA optics were tested and evaluated. Attempts have been made to develop engineering plastic and polycarbonate disks as well as glass as disk media for NFR application. The durability of developed disks was examined and compared with the aim of their practical application.