Recent progress in laser-assisted magnetic recording, which combines optica
l and magnetic recording technologies, is described in this paper, This stu
dy confirms that laser-assisted magnetic recording is a good candidate for
high areal density magnetic recording. Improved disk performance was demons
trated in the area of frequency response, media noise, and thermal decay, T
he improvements in media design include the change in temperature dependenc
e of the recording layer, an increased perpendicular anisotropy, and a ther
mally efficient layer structure. These improved media properties results in
a high linear density and good thermal stability.