Abstract
Extremely effective reduction of physical dimensions in the recording head through photolithography techniques, in combination with tremendous development in thin film recording media, has led to a spectacular increase in areal density in the magnetic recording industry. Since the fundamental length scale (exchange length) in ferromagnetic materials is on the order of 10-8 meter, the small physical dimensions have made more detailed micromagnetic analysis of the recording head and the recorded data track feasible: The number of discretisation elements required in the numerical simulation of objects with small dimensions is now of a manageable size. The intent of this Chapter is to provide an elementary introduction to aspects of magnetostatics, leading up to popular implementations of the micromagnetic method. This also serves as a background to many of the concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters in this book. Examples of the application of simple magnetostatic equations and of the micromagnetic method to the recording head and medium will serve to illustrate the utility of the micromagnetic method, as well as some of its shortcomings.
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van Ek, J., Plumer, M. (2001). Introduction to Micromagnetic Recording Physics. In: Plumer, M.L., van Ek, J., Weller, D. (eds) The Physics of Ultra-High-Density Magnetic Recording. Springer Series in Surface Sciences, vol 41. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56657-8_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56657-8_1
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