Light delivery techniques for heat-assisted magnetic recording

Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), also known as hybrid recording, has been proposed to enable storage densities greater than 1 Tb/in2 in hard disc drives while circumventing the superparamagnetic limit. Light is delivered in the near field to the recording medium to heat just the spot which is to be recorded. Techniques based on apertures, antennas, waveguides, and solid immersion lenses have been suggested for delivering substantial amounts of optical power into subwavelength spots in the near field. A practical transducer for HAMR may require a combination of techniques.