High field gradient single pole head with a novel pole structure

Summary form only given. In perpendicular recording, writing head field gradient affects not only high density characteristics but also media noise. Improvement of the single pole head (SPT head) to realize a high field gradient is therefore critical. Based on the cusp field SPT head, the structure optimization by locating the upper return path in the vicinity of the main pole was investigated to increase the gradient with a 2D FEM calculation. Resultant recorded transition widths were examined as well.