Cusp-field single-pole head with narrow trailing gap

Abstract: In perpendicular magnetic recording, improvement of recording resolution of single-pole (SPT) head is considered to be one of the future subjects. In a cusp-field single-pole (CF-SPT) head, it is useful to narrow the trailing gap for improving the recording resolution and also overwrite performance. Furthermore, the CF-SPT head, which has double return-yokes on both sides of the main-pole, is expected to show excellent writability even with a thin soft underlayer (SUL). It is experimentally confirmed that the head with double return-yokes shows high writability combined with a thin SUL medium compared to a head with a single return-yoke. It is concluded that the CF-SPT head with a narrow trailing gap shows a high recording resolution together with a high writability so as to allow the use of a thin SUL productively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]