R&D: Characterization of Thermal Time Constants of HAMR Media

IEEE Transactions on Magnetics has published an article written by Ian Gilbert, Seagate Research Group, Seagate Technology, Shakopee, MN, USA,Chris Rea, Javier Guzman, Recording Head Operations, Seagate Technology, Bloomington, MN, USA,Jay Loven, Seagate Research Group, Seagate Technology, Shakopee, MN, USA, and Mourad Benakli, Recording Head Operations, Seagate Technology, Bloomington, MN, USA.

Abstract: “Here we describe experimental spin stand measurements as well as simulations of the time constants associated with thermal transients in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media. The thermal transients associated with both increasing and decreasing steps in laser power contain at least two time constants each, one on the order of 1 ns and another on the order of 10 ns. These time constants are associated with the central thermal peak in the media and the diffuse thermal background, respectively. Additionally, the measured thermal fall time is longer than the thermal rise time due to the disk’s motion relative to the head. Whereas in conventional HAMR a constant laser power is applied during writes, a number of proposed advanced recording schemes use pulsed laser power to improve either recording performance or reliability. The thermal time constants reported here suggest care must be taken when implementing such schemes so that transition locations are not shifted to the detriment of areal density capability.“