In this work we present a micromagnetic study of the performance potential of bit-patterned (BP) magnetic recording media via joint optimization of the design of the media and of the magnetic write heads. Because the design space is large and complex, we developed a novel computational framework suitable for parallel implementation on compute clusters. Our technique combines advanced global optimization algorithms and finite-element micromagnetic solvers. Targeting data bit densities of 4Tb/in2, we optimize designs for centered, staggered, and shingled BP writing. The magnetization dynamics of the switching of the exchange-coupled composite BP islands of the media is treated micromagnetically. Our simulation framework takes into account not only the dynamics of on-track errors but also of the thermally induced adjacent-track erasure. With co-optimized write heads, the results show superior performance of shingled BP magnetic recording where we identify two particular designs achieving write bit-error rates of 1.5x10−8 and 8.4x10−8, respectively. A detailed description of the key design features of these designs is provided and contrasted with centered and staggered BP designs which yielded write bit error rates of only 2.8x10−3 (centered design) and 1.7x10−2 (staggered design) even under optimized conditions.
@article{arxiv.1603.09493,
title = {Numerical optimization of writer and media for bit patterned magnetic recording},
author = {A. Kovacs and H. Oezelt and M. E. Schabes and T. Schrefl},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1603.09493},
year = {2016}
}