Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording

Due to the limits of conventional perpendicular magnetic recording, it appears that alternative technologies are needed at areal densities >500 Gb/in ² . Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is a promising approach to extend areal densities to 1 Tb/in ² and beyond. All of the unique components necessary for a working HAMR system have been demonstrated. Although HAMR permits writing on high Hc media with lower magnetic fields and can produce higher write gradients than conventional magnetic recording, head/media spacing and the development of high Hc media with small grains remains challenging