Novel laser-assisted micro levitation mechanism for magneto-optical recording

This paper proposes and analyzes a novel laser-assisted micro levitation mechanism utilizing thermal creep flow which occurs only in regions where the spacing is small and temperature gradients exist along the boundary walls. The basic configuration of the mechanism is similar to the laser-assisted magneto-optical recording or near field recording system. A circular plate with a radius of 1 mm, whose temperature linearly decreases with increasing radius and whose temperature ratio T _{W center}/T₀ is 1.2, has a load-carrying capacity of about 3 mN when the spacing between the floating and fixed plates is 0.1 μm