DIRECT IMAGING OF TRACK EDGE FRINGING FIELDS ON RECORDED MEDIA

The capability to image individual vector components of surface magnet ic fields locally has been, developed recently, and this component-sel ective technique has been applied to understand the field distribution of recorded patterns. Apart from the commonly measured in-plane compo nent in the direction of the track H(x), a cross-track component H(y) has been observed along the edges. While the H(x) field images show si de written patterns extending laterally from the edges, the Hy field i mages reveal localized bright and dark spots on both sides of the trac k. This suggests that pairs of mutually opposite magnetic dipole layer s persist on both edges which are oriented transverse to the track dir ection. A systematic investigation was made of these side fringing fie lds to understand their behavior as a function of recording wavelength .