An experimental investigation of the effect of medium thickness and transducer spacing on the read-back signal in magnetic recording systems

An experimental investigation has been made of the dependence of the read-back signal on medium thickness and read transducer spacing for magnetic recording particulate disk file systems using saturation recording. The novel technique employed permits the study of the effects of transducer spacing and medium thickness without the need for changing either the medium specimen or the read transducer. For the ranges of transducer spacing (1.25-6.0 μm) and medium thickness (0.0- 1.75 μm) investigated, excellent agreement with theoretical predictions was found for peak signal amplitudes and half-pulsewidths of isolated pulses. It was also found that the -6 dB pulse packing density, calculated from half-pulsewidth measurements of isolated pulses, agrees well with experimental results.