Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), also known as hybrid recording, is one of the technologies proposed for extending hard disk drive areal densities beyond a Tb/in2. Due to their planar nature and compatibility with existing hard disk drive head fabrication techniques, dielectric optical waveguides have been suggested as a means for delivering light directly to the recording medium or near field optical transducer. In this paper we present spin stand experimental results from a dielectric optical slab waveguide fabricated on an AlTiC slider.
Silver oxide layers were prepared by reactive r.f. magnetron sputtering of a silver target in oxygen containing atmosphere. Spectroscopic analysis of the films revealed a gradually composition change from Ag over Ag2O to AgO with increasing oxygen addition. Raman spectroscopy in combination with optical transmission measurements indicated that the AgOx constituents readily decompose by laser irradiation to optically active silver scattering centers and oxygen. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of carbon traces in the silver oxide layers verified the potential to excite local surface plasmons in such silver aggregates. Furthermore, SERS activity of the activated layers is demonstrated by the clear amplification of Raman bands of low concentrated chemicals. The example of the model molecule benzoic acid (BA) applied to AgO films on glass substrates allows to observe the activation process in situ. SER characteristics were found to be dependent on the silver oxide film constitution and the state of intermediate silver cluster formation along with the applied photoactivation-time and power.
We report on a novel micromachined sensor head for optical data storage devices. The head is based on a 6 X 6 aperture array with subwavelength dimensions. In comparison to previously introduced flat-aperture heads, a tip-based array is presented which profits from a recently presented reliable fabrication process of apertures in the 100 nm regime and below. This fabrication process exploits inhomogeneous thickness distributions and modified etching rates of thermally generated siliconoxides on <001>-oriented silicon wafers at relatively low temperatures, and makes it possible to open apertures with dimensions below 150 nm in hollow SiO2 pyramidal shaped tips. A metallization process is finally used to provide optical opacity and to further reduce the overall aperture dimensions to less than 100 nm. The fabrication process of these sensors is described in detail and the results are confirmed by SEM photographs.
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