Studies of spacing loss in longitudinal and perpendicular recording

The effect of head‐to‐medium spacing on longitudinal and perpendicular magnetic recording with ring heads has been clarified. Media tested are a γ‐Fe2O3 particulate disk and a Co–Ni–P plated disk for longitudinal recording, and single and double layer of Co–Cr sputtered disks for perpendicular recording. Experiments are performed utilizing Mn–Zn ferrite ring heads with 0.30, 0.56, and 0.78‐μm gap lengths. In addition, self‐consistent calculations by finite element method, which takes into consideration head‐to‐medium interaction, are applied to clarify the mechanism of read spacing loss.