Narrow Trackwidth Recording with a Single-Pole Head.

We investigated the writing properties of a single-pole head with a narrow trackwidth for high-track-density recording. We fabricated a single-pole head whose main pole was made from Fe-Si-N film having a high Bs of 1.9 T. The head was trimmed into a narrow trackwidth by using a focused ion beam system. The write properties of the head were evaluated by using a double-layered medium for perpendicular magnetic recording. Narrow trackwidth recording with a high resolution was demonstrated for trackwidths as narrow as 0.3 μm Furthermore, a significant reduction in the occurrence of reversed domain numbers was observed at low recording densities for the 0.3-μm-wide track, though the medium exhibited a low squareness ratio. This may be caused by the reduced demagnetizing field in the recorded track.