NEAR FIELD OPTICAL HEAD AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME

摘要

A near field optical head which can project a near field light with high intensity and a method for manufacturing the same. The near field optical head (1000) comprises a slider (1001) supported by a suspension arm for exerting a load, receiving a floating force due to the relative motion with a recording medium, and forming a gap between the slider and the recording medium through the balance of the load and the floating force, a microstructure (1006) formed on the recording medium side of the slider (1001), a light propagating body (1803) arranged on the surface of the slider (1001) opposite to the recording medium side generally in parallel with the suspension arm, a mirror (1010) arranged generally above the microstructure (1006) in order to introduce the light from the light propagating body (1803) to the microstructure (1006), and a structure for shortening the optical path length between the output end of the light propagating body (1803) and the microstructure (1006).