Magnetic analysis of contact head/tape spacing

A new magnetic analysis method is used to determine the mean magnetic spaci ng of a contact head/tape interface, The initial part of the curve of readb ack signal amplitude versus recording current is measured at a low recordin g density and is fitted by using theoretical approximations to obtain the h ead/tape spacing, A tape looper test stand, inductive heads, and various hi gh-density metal particle tapes are used in the recording measurements, The mean head/tape spacing obtained from magnetic analysis agrees well with th e results from numerical analysis of mechanical measurements.