Abstract: Provided are a perpendicular magnetic recording medium and a method for manufacturing the same, the perpendicular magnetic recording medium including an alloy (FePt, FePd, or CoPt) having a large Ku value with an L10 type ordered structure, and obtained with achievement of controlled crystal orientation and thin film formation without heating. Specifically, in the perpendicular magnetic recording medium, at least a nonmagnetic seed layer, a nonmagnetic underlayer, and a magnetic layer are formed in this order on a nonmagnetic substrate. The nonmagnetic seed layer includes a MgO layer and a metal layer having a body-centered cubic (bcc) structure. The nonmagnetic underlayer has a NaCl type structure of one selected from the group consisting of MgO, NiO, TiO, CrN, Ti carbides, and Ti nitrides. The magnetic layer includes an alloy selected from the group consisting of FePt, FePd, and CoPt having an L10 type ordered structure.

Abstract: A magnetic recording medium is capable of improving the efficiency of thermal energy supply to a magnetic recording layer. A magnetic recording medium for thermally assisted recording comprises at least a nonmagnetic substrate, a magnetic recording layer, and a reflectance change layer. The magnetic recording layer is positioned between the substrate and the reflectance change layer.

Abstract: A perpendicular magnetic recording medium is disclosed. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium includes a first layer, and a second layer positioned immediately below the first layer. Among the materials in the first layer and the second layer, if the interface energy when two different materials—material a and material b—are in contact is defined as Ei(a//b), the surface energy when material a exists independently is defined as Es(a), and the energy resulting by subtracting the sum of the respective surface energies (?Es) from the interface energy is defined as G(a//b), then when G(1//3)<G(1//4) holds, either G(2//4) or G(1//3) is the minimum among G(1//3), G(1//4), G(2//3) and G(2//4), and when G(1//3)<G(1//4) does not hold, G(2//4) is the minimum among G(1//3), G(1//4), G(2//3) and G(2//4).