Computational Simulation of Gold Core/Shell Nanostructures for Near-Field Transducers in Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording

J. Bennington[1]
[1]Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Published in 2014

A recurring problem, in heat assisted magnetic recording is the build-up of thermal energy in the near-field transducer leading to NFT deformation and the cessation of operation. A mechanism to dissipate this excess heat in the NFT without greatly effecting its’ plasmonic response is therefore required.

The RF Module and COMSOL Multiphysics® software are used to investigate the plasmonic response of gold core/shell nanoparticles with varying shell materials and thicknesses. Plane wave radiation is incident on a PML bounded region containing the nanoparticles and extinction spectra taken using the scatter matrix are examined for plasmonic activity at the relevant wavelength. The thermal energy distribution in the structures are analysed to determine if the core/shell structures are appropriate for HAMR.