Side track erasure of stitched-pole magnetic recording heads

We studied the side track erasure of a stitched-pole head with writer pole P3 not recessed from the air-bearing surface and compared it with conventio nal designs. A method is presented to determine the degree of side track er asure, We found that side track erasure increases with increasing linear de nsity, medium M(r)delta, and DC erase current, This is consistent with the erasure being caused by the stray field generated at the corners of the P2/ P3 interface in combination with the demagnetization field present in the t ransitions. The high degree of magnetization of P3 in the stitched-pole hea d has been confirmed by magneto-optic Kerr microscopy.