Dual-magnetic layer high anisotropy media with orientation initialization layer

1. A recording medium comprising:

a magnetic recording layer having an axis of magnetic anisotropy substantially perpendicular to the surface thereof;

a soft magnetic underlayer disposed under the magnetic recording layer and physically coupled to the magnetic recording layer through one or more intermediate layers magnetically decoupling the soft magnetic underlayer from the magnetic recording layer, wherein the one or more intermediate layers comprise a heatsink layer and a non-magnetic interlayer disposed between the magnetic recording layer and an orientation initialization layer, wherein the one or more intermediate layers comprise a layer of (002) textured CrRu 10 B 3 disposed over the orientation initialization layer, and a layer of (002) textured MgO disposed over the CrRu 10 B 3 layer; and

the orientation initialization layer disposed between the magnetic recording layer and the soft magnetic underlayer, wherein the orientation initialization layer comprises a single layer of MgO.

2. The recording medium as in claim 1 , wherein the orientation initialization layer is deposited directly on top of the soft magnetic underlayer.

3. The recording medium as in claim 1 , wherein the soft magnetic underlayer comprises a CoFe or CoCr based soft magnetic alloy.

4. The recording medium as in claim 3 , wherein the CoFe or CoCr based alloy contains one or more additional elements selected from the group consisting of: Al, B, C, Cr, Cu, N, Nb, Ni, Re, Ru, Si, Ta and Zr.

5. The recording medium of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic recording layer has an out-of-plane coercivity greater than about 12 kOe.

6. The recording medium of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic recording layer has an out-of-plane coercivity greater than about 15 kOe.

7. The recording medium of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic recording layer comprises a FePtX alloy, wherein X is selected from the group consisting of Ag, B, BN, C, Co, Cr, Cu, MgO, Ni, Si 3 N 4 , SiO 2 and TiO 2 .

8. The recording medium of claim 7 , wherein the FePtX alloy comprises an L1 0 -ordered alloy of FePtC.

9. A recording device comprising:

a recording head for reading magnetic signals from, and writing magnetic signals to, a recording medium; and

a recording medium configured for perpendicular recording, the recording medium further comprising:

a magnetic recording layer having an axis of magnetic anisotropy substantially perpendicular to the surface thereof;

a soft magnetic underlayer disposed under the magnetic recording layer and physically coupled to the magnetic recording layer through one or more intermediate layers magnetically decoupling the soft magnetic underlayer from the magnetic recording layer, wherein the one or more intermediate layers comprise a heatsink layer and a non-magnetic interlayer disposed between the magnetic recording layer and an orientation initialization layer, wherein the one or more intermediate layers comprise a layer of (002) textured CrRu 10 B 3 disposed over the orientation initialization layer, and a layer of (002) textured MgO disposed over the CrRu 10 B 3 layer; and

the orientation initialization layer disposed between the magnetic recording layer and the soft magnetic underlayer, wherein the orientation initialization layer comprises a single layer of MgO.

10. The recording medium as in claim 9 , wherein the orientation initialization layer is deposited directly on top of the soft magnetic underlayer.

11. The recording medium as in claim 9 , wherein the soft magnetic underlayer comprises a CoFe or CoCr based soft magnetic alloy.