Heat assisted magnetic recording: Grain size dependency, enhanced damping, and a simulation/experiment comparison

Recording simulations on heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) are implemented to study the dependences of grain size and Gilbert damping on the recording performance. Modified damping and temperature shift for renormalized media cells are needed to address the non-equilibrium nature of HAMR process. It is found that using smaller grains helps reduce transition jitter but increases track width. Larger damping is also found effective in reducing the jitter. Finally, the applicability of this simulation method is corroborated by comparing with experimental results. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.