Magnetic recording configuration for densities beyond 1 Tb/in/sup 2/ and data rates beyond 1 Gb/s

A new magnetic recording system is evaluated that includes the single-pole head, a new medium design, and the soft underlayer of perpendicular recording. The proposed medium consists of perpendicular grains with anisotropy directions tilted optimally about 45/spl deg/ with respect to the perpendicular direction. Here, focus is on the tilt angle at 45/spl deg/ in the crosstrack direction, including a small but typical dispersion. The write pole consists of a tapered-neck single-pole head with a very small throat height that yields maximized write fields without increased edge track degradation. The advantages of tilted perpendicular recording are discussed using theoretical and numerical micromagnetic analyses. This design achieves a much higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than conventional recording, because it is less sensitive to medium orientation distributions and, for the same thermal decay, can utilize media with much smaller grain sizes. The switching speed is much more rapid due to increased recording torque. Estimated recording limits for tilted perpendicular recording with a medium-jitter SNR of 17 dB are beyond densities of 1 Tb/in/sup 2/ and data rates of 1 Gb/s.