Multi-element read/write tape head with low feedthrough

摘要

Read-while-write feedthrough is reduced in a tape deck having a multi-element read/write tape head. The tape deck includes write circuits for converting a substream of a data stream into an electrical signal. The read/write head has a sequence of write elements each having a coil for converting a received electrical signal into a magnetic field. A wire pair connects each write circuit with a corresponding write element. The system is designed such that the magnetization pattern written on the tape by one write element in response to a particular data substream has magnetization directions reversed from a second magnetization pattern written on the tape by a neighboring write element in response to the same substream. The feedthrough is thereby reduced by permitting cancellation of magnetic fields from write elements.