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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/B000184/1
Title: Improved 3-D field approximations for magnetic recording heads.
Principal Investigator: Shute, Dr HA
Other Investigators:
Wilton, Dr D
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Sch of Computing & Mathematics
Organisation: University of Plymouth
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 15 May 2005 Ends: 14 August 2005 Value (£): 6,253
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Electromagnetics Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Electronics
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
Digital data is stored magnetically according to the direction of the magnetisation of particles in a medium, such as on the hard disk of a computer. The magnetisation pattern is written along concentric tracks by a magnetic recording head and is usually read by a rmagneto-resistive sensor. Areal densities in magnetic recording are increasing rapidly. This has been achieved by reducing both the width of each track and the length of the individual bits. In order to study the read/write characteristics of a head/medium configuration, accurate knowledge of the head field is required. Theoretical head field models can be analytic or numerical. Analytic models have the advantage that they are expressed in terms of the geometric factors of the head which can be optimised while numerical models can more easily include realistic material properties but are geometry specific.In 2-D models, the track width is assumed to be large compared with the other dimensions. As the tracks become narrower and their separation also reduces, the cross-track field of the recording head becomes an important factor in head design. Hence the classic 2-D analytic models no longer suffice. No exact, analytic 3-D model of a practical magnetic recording head has been published. Recently, an extremely good 2-D approximation [1] has led to an excellent approximate 3-D field solution [2]. Although approximate, this 3D field is still quite expensive to compute. The objective of this project is to obtain a simpler expression approximation at the cost of only a small loss of accuracy. Analytic models in the form of Fourier solutions are written as infinite series of trigonometric terms. Often many terms are needed to obtain acceptable accuracy. Recently, it has been found that just two terms of a 2-D solution, based on a series of algebraic terms which closely model the singularities in the true magnetic field at the corner of a magnetic recording head, provides sufficient accuracy. The new 2-D solution depends on the rate of decay of the field at the head corners. This rate of decay is applicable at the centre of each edge in 3-D but the rate increases towards a corner. As a physicist, the Visiting Researcher's expertise complements that of the applicants. During his visit, he will also be able to advise on other on-going projects within the Centre for Research in Information Storage Technology (CRIST). The Visiting Researcher's advice continues to be of great value in work on objective 2a) and other members of CRIST will be able to discuss their work with the Visiting Researcher as they have on previous visits. [1] H. A Shute, D. T. Wilton, D. McA. McKirdy and D. J. Mapps, Improved approximations for 2-D perpendicular recording heads , IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 39, pp. 2098-2102, July 2003. [2] D. T. Wilton, D. McA. McKirdy, H. A. Shute, J. J. Miles and D. J. Mapps Approximate 3-D head fields for perpendicular magnetic recording , IEEE Trans. Magn. to appear, January 2004.
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