Apparatus for measuring magnetic field of microwave-assisted head

• US 8,027,110 B1
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: TDK Corporation
• Original Assignee: TDK Corporation
• Inventors: Sasaki, Tomoyuki, Adachi, Takuya, Yamanaka, Noboru, Ikeda, Hiroshi, Sato, Isamu
• Primary Examiner(s): Tzeng; Fred
• Application Number:
  US12/844,348
• Time in Patent Office: 427 Days
• Field of Search: 360/31, 360/46, 360/55, 360/69, 360/125, 360/126, 428/336, 324/210, 725/131, 340/10.42, 340/72.2
• US Class Current: 360/31
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/091 Constructional adaptation of the sensor to specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2005/0024 Microwave assisted recording
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/314 where the layers are extra layers normally not provided in the transducing structure, e.g. optical layers G11B5/3196 takes precedence

Abstract

A measurement circuit system of a magnetic field measurement apparatus of the present invention includes an amplifier, a mixer circuit and a band-pass filter that are connected in order on an output end side of a microstrip line or a coplanar wave guide, which is an in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element, a frequency immediately before being inputted in the band-pass filter is down-converted by the mixer circuit to a frequency so that a band width of the band-pass filter can be used, the band-pass filter uses a narrow band of ±0.5-±10 KHz (1 KHz-20 KHz as a bandwidth) centering a fundamental frequency selected from 5-20 MHz that is down-converted by the mixer circuit as a center peak passing frequency, and the measurement circuit system is configured to obtain 3 dB or greater of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is a ratio of S with N; where S represents the reproduction voltage (reproduction output) of the high frequency reproduction signal induced by the in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element, and N represents a total noise voltage of a circuit noise including a noise generated by the in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element. Therefore, the in-plane high frequency magnetic field that a microwave-assisted magnetic head generates can be measured with high reliability and precision.

Claims

1. A magnetic field measurement apparatus that measures an in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity generated from a microwave generation mechanism provided in a microwave-assisted magnetic head, the magnetic field measurement apparatus comprising:

a fixing mechanism that fixes the microwave-assisted magnetic head that is a subject to be measured;

a high frequency current drive system that applies a high frequency current to the microwave generation mechanism provided in the microwave-assisted magnetic head;

an in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element that measures the in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity generated from the microwave generation mechanism, the in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element being one of a microstrip line and a coplanar wave guide that functions to obtain a production output voltage by electromagnetic induction from the in-plane high frequency magnetic field generated from the microwave generation mechanism;

a measurement circuit system connected to the one of the microstrip line and the coplanar wave guide, which is the in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element; and

a three-dimensionally movable stage on which is mounted the one of the microstrip line and the coplanar wave guide, which is the in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element, wherein

the measurement circuit system includes an amplifier, a mixer circuit and a band-pass filter that are connected in order on an output end side of the in-plane high frequency magnetic field,

a frequency immediately before being inputted in the band-pass filter is down-converted by the mixer circuit to a frequency so that a band width of the band-pass filter can be used,

the band-pass filter uses a narrow band of ±

0.5-±

10 KHz (1 KHz-20 KHz as a bandwidth) centering a fundamental frequency selected from 5-20 MHz that is down-converted by the mixer circuit as a center peak passing frequency, and

the measurement circuit system is configured to obtain 3 dB or greater of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is a ratio of S with N;

where

S represents the reproduction voltage (reproduction output) of the high frequency reproduction signal induced by the in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element, and

N represents a total noise voltage of a circuit noise including a noise generated by the in-plane high frequency magnetic field intensity measurement element.

2. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the band-pass filter uses a narrow band of ±

1.5-±

5 KHz (3 KHz-10 KHz as a bandwidth) centering the fundamental frequency selected from 5-20 MHz that is down-converted by the mixer circuit as the center peak passing frequency.

3. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fundamental frequency down-converted by the mixer circuit and inputted to the band-pass filter and the narrow bandwidth of the band-pass filter are determined such that 3 dB or greater is obtained for the SNR.

4. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amplifier in the measurement circuit system includes a pre-amplifier and a main-amplifier that are connected in this order.

5. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amplifier in the measurement circuit system is a main-amplifier.

6. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a comparator is connected to the measurement circuit system next to the band-pass filter.

7. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, by a control of the three-dimensionally movable stage,

a center line of the one of the microstrip line or the coplanar wave guide is positioned along and opposes a center line of a recording gap of the microwave-assisted magnetic head that is the subject to be measured that is fixed by the fixing mechanism, and

a spacing between the center line of the recording gap and the center line of the one of the microstrip line or the coplanar wave guide is configured to be finely controlled.

8. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coplanar wave guide is of a short circuit type.

9. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the microwave-assisted head that is the subject to be measured includes a main magnetic pole, an auxiliary magnetic pole, a primary coil for generating a perpendicular recording magnetic field at the main magnetic pole, and a secondary coil for driving a microwave band alternating current in a gap and/or in a vicinity of the gap formed by the main magnetic pole and the auxiliary magnetic pole.

10. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

an in-plane alternating current magnetic field is generated by driving the alternating current in the microwave band to the secondary coil of the microwave-assisted magnetic head, and

a frequency of the alternating current is substantially equal to a ferromagnetic resonance frequency of a recording layer of a magnetic recording medium that is subjected to recording, and is in a range of 10 GHz to 40 GHz.

11. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the microwave-assisted magnetic head that is the subject to be measured includes a main magnetic pole, an auxiliary magnetic pole, a primary coil for generating a perpendicular recording magnetic field at the main magnetic pole, and a spin torque oscillator formed of a multilayer magnetic thin film for generating a microwave band alternating current in a gap and/or in a vicinity of the gap formed by the main magnetic pole and the auxiliary magnetic pole.

12. The magnetic field measurement apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

an in-plane alternating current magnetic field is generated by driving a bias current to the spin torque oscillator of the microwave-assisted magnetic head to oscillate the spin torque oscillator, and

an oscillation frequency of the spin torque oscillator is substantially equal to a ferromagnetic resonance frequency of a recording layer of a magnetic recording medium that is subjected to recording, and is in a range of 10 GHz to 40 GHz.