Optical property study of FePt-C nanocomposite thin film for heat-assisted magnetic recording

Optical properties of the FePt-C nanocomposite thin film that was synthesized by sputtering with MgO/NiTa underlayer on glass substrate have been determined by an approach combining spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmission over the wavelength range of 380 - 1700 nm. It was observed that the refractive index is larger than the extinction coefficient, indicating that free electron absorption is not the dominant optical transition in the FePt-C thin film. Compared with FePt thin film, the FePt-C thin film has smaller optical constants, which lead to better optical performance including smaller optical spot on recording media and higher transducer efficiency for heat assisted magnetic recording.