Abstract: A thermally assisted magnetic head including a main magnetic pole layer having a magnetic pole end face arranged in a medium-opposing surface, a near-field transducer which generates a near-field light for heating the magnetic recording medium, a waveguide guiding light to the near-field transducer; and an optical side shield being arranged in the medium-opposing surface side of the waveguide and being formed so as to sandwich a part of the near-field transducer, in the medium-opposing surface side, from both sides of a direction along the medium-opposing surface. The near-field transducer includes a protruding end-part (PEG). Then the protruding end-part is arranged to have a PEG end-surface at a position receded from the medium-opposing surface.

Abstract: A system for transition curvature improvement on thermally assisted magnetic recording, includes: an energy source, a thermally assisted magnetic recording head including a magnetic main pole for writing of a thermally assisted magnetic recording medium, a waveguide for directing an energy produced by the energy source, and a PPG including a peg and adjacent to the waveguide, the PPG being for turning the energy into a surface plasmon which travels down the peg to heat the thermally assisted magnetic recording medium. The magnetic main pole includes a first portion enabling a first magnetic field strength and at least one additional portion enabling a magnetic field strength stronger than the first magnetic field strength such that a magnetic field of the magnetic main pole along a horizontal direction thereof enables generation of a substantially straight transition curve while writing on the thermally assisted magnetic recording medium.