title: Writing 40 nm marks by using a beaked metallic plate near-field optical probe.
abstract: We have developed a near-field optical probe that uses a triangular metallic plate with a three-dimensionally tapered apex as a light source for thermally assisted magnetic recording. Numerical analysis using a finite-element method shows that the size of the optical spot generated at the apex is 15 nm x 20 nm, and the efficiency (defined as the ratio between the power of the optical near field at the surface of the recording medium and that of the incident light) is 15% when the incident light is focused by a lens with a numerical aperture of 0.8. The metallic plate was fabricated on the surface of a quartz slider and used for writing marks on a phase change recording medium. The marks were observed with a scanning electron microscope, and we confirmed that marks with a diameter of 40 nm were successfully written on the medium.
authors.affiliation: Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd, Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan. m-takuya@rd.hitachi.co.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Anzai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shintani
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishida