A micro optical flying head for a PCMCIA-sized optical data storage

A micro optical flying head is presented for high-density PCMCIA-sized small form factor(SFF) optical data storage. It is composed of a high numerical-aperture(NA) objective lens, a micro lens actuator for adjusting the position of the lens to optimize the focal point to the recording layer of an optical disk, and an integrated air-bearing surface for flying over the spinning disk. The overall size of the fabricated micro optical flying head, assembled with high NA(0.85) objective lens, is as small as 3 mm×1.6 mm×0.5 mm(in length×width×thickness), which makes it suitable for the optical data storage device of mobile applications. Also, a basic operation of a PCMCIA type II optical drive prototype including the micro optical flying head is tested and presented.