HAMR - EXPANDING DATA STORAGE

Optical Waveguide Materials for Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR)

Increasing the capacity of mainstream data storage devices is crucial to supporting the continued growth of the worldwide datasphere. With the shift to “cloud” storage as the preferred medium, the adoption of very high capacity hard drives requires drive makers to keep pace by increasing the storage density of recorded information on disc surfaces. Seagate’s Dr. Xiaoyue P. Huang and Dr. Michael C. Kautzky explain how thin film technology has helped pioneer the introduction of new drive technology, Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR), to provide a commercially viable path beyond the density limits of today’s perpendicular magnetic recording.