Transition position jitter in longitudinal magnetic recording media

We have quantitatively analyzed magnetic force microscope images of magnetic tracks written at 10000 flux changes per mm in longitudinal magnetic recording media. In this study, transition positions and transition position jitter have been extracted as a function of the write current and compared to spin-stand measurements. Jitter is important as it limits how closely transitions can be spaced. Excellent quantitative agreement is achieved. Moreover, the MFM tip provides much better spatial resolution in the cross-track direction than a read element of a head. The high resolution allows the characterization of recording parameters for simulated read elements with various widths before heads are available for experiments. This ability, which is illustrated with transition position jitter and a comparison with theory, is important to advance the recording technology.