The Kerr head: a multitrack fixed active head

Author

Maillot, Christian ; Maurice, Francois

Author_Institution

Thomson CSF LCR, Orsay, France

Volume

28

Issue

5

fYear

1992

fDate

9/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2656

Lastpage

2658

Abstract

A type of multitrack readout head which uses an optical detection scheme associated with a high-resolution magnetic readout of the tape is described. A Kerr effect transducer allows this magnetooptical readout. The authors present the general design of such a transducer and the experimental results obtained. Signal-to-noise measurements at 0.35 μm bit length on metal evaporated tapes compare well to the rotating drum readout state of the art. The figure of merit of heads is high enough to accommodate a 20 Mb/s rate using a moderate power laser diode and a charge coupled device (CCD) scanner

Keywords

Kerr magneto-optical effect; magnetic heads; magnetic tape equipment; magneto-optical devices; transducers; 20 Mbit/s; CCD scanner; Kerr effect transducer; Kerr head; figure of merit; high-resolution magnetic readout; magnetooptical readout; metal evaporated tapes; moderate power laser diode; multitrack fixed active head; multitrack readout head; optical detection scheme; signal-to-noise; Charge-coupled image sensors; Diode lasers; Kerr effect; Length measurement; Magnetic heads; Magnetooptic effects; Nonlinear optics; Optical detectors; Rotation measurement; Transducers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.179587

Filename

179587