Parametric Comparison of Modeled and Measured Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording Using a Common Signal-to-Noise Metric

The auto-correlation signal-to-noise (ACSN) method is employed on micromagnetically modeled heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) readback waveforms and compared with experimental ACSN data. The breakdown between transition signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and remanence SNR is provided for both modeled and measured data. Good agreement is observed between both simulated and experimental SNRs as a function of laser power and as a function of linear density. An efficiency factor that relates maximum temperature observed in the media to the applied laser current is obtained by combining the modeled and experimental data. Usage of this methodology provides SNR metrics that allow a reliable comparison of micromagnetic modeling of HAMR recording systems to experimental measurements.