An analysis of the magnetic circuit of multitrack record and playback heads

An analysis is given of the magnetic circuit of a recording (or playback) head in a multitrack assembly. In particular the analysis is concerned with the effect of leakage flux between the core of the head and the closely spaced screen which separates neighboring heads in the assembly. The analysis includes the reluctance of the front and rear gaps, and also the distributed nature of the core and leakage path reluctances. Expressions are derived for sensitivity and inductance in terms of three dimensionless parameters which refer to core, leakage and rear gap reluctances, respectively. Graphical results are included for typical values of the parameters.