OPTICAL FLYING HEAD WITH SOLID IMMERSION LENS HAVING RAISED CENTRAL SURFACE FACING MEDIA

摘要

An air bearing assembly (10) for an optical drive carries a solid immersion lens (SIL) (16) having a bottom surface facing the disk contoured such that a central region (16c) where the optical path exits the bottom surface is closest to the recording media regardless of perturbations in the attitude of the air bearing and neighboring points on the surface (16b) surrounding the central region recede for clearance but function at least partly as an air bearing. In one embodiment the bottom surface (16c) of the SIL (16) has a radius of about 10 meters.