Heat-assisted magnetic recording head with a middle disk

1. A heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprising:

a plasmonic disk;

a near-field emitter comprising:

a peg configured to produce a hot spot on a proximal magnetic disk, the peg disposed proximal to a media-facing surface of the heat-assisted magnetic recording head; and

an anchor disk disposed behind the peg relative to the media-facing surface; and

a middle disk having a melting temperature of at least 1500 degrees Celsius,

wherein the plasmonic disk is disposed in an up-track direction relative to the middle disk,

wherein the anchor disk is coupled to the plasmonic disk, and

wherein the middle disk is disposed in a down-track direction relative to the near-field emitter and is coupled to the anchor disk.

2. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 1 , wherein the middle disk comprises a transition metal.

3. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 2 , wherein the transition metal is a primary metal of the middle disk.

4. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 3 , wherein the primary metal comprises at least 95 atomic percent of the middle disk.

5. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 2 , wherein the transition metal is a component of an alloy of the middle disk.

6. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 2 , wherein the transition metal is a platinum group metal.

7. A heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprising a near-field transducer comprising:

a plasmonic disk;

a middle disk having a melting temperature of at least 1500 degrees Celsius; and

a near-field emitter comprising:

an anchor disk that occupies an area of a plane that is defined by a cross-track dimension of the heat-assisted magnetic recording head and a media-facing dimension of the heat-assisted magnetic recording head; and

a peg that occupies an area of the plane that is smaller than the area of the plane that is occupied by the anchor disk,

wherein the peg is disposed proximal to a media-facing surface of the heat-assisted magnetic recording head,

wherein the anchor disk is disposed behind the peg relative to the media-facing surface,

wherein the plasmonic disk is disposed in an up-track direction relative to the middle disk, and

wherein the anchor disk is coupled to the plasmonic disk.

8. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 7 , wherein the middle disk comprises a transition metal.

9. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 8 , wherein the transition metal is a primary metal of the middle disk.

10. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 9 , wherein the primary metal comprises at least 95 atomic percent of the middle disk.

11. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 8 , wherein the transition metal is a component of an alloy of the middle disk.

12. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 8 , wherein the transition metal is a platinum group metal.

13. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 7 ,

wherein the middle disk is disposed in a down-track direction relative to the near-field emitter, and

wherein the middle disk is coupled to the anchor disk.

14. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 13 ,

wherein the middle disk and the anchor disk are coupled to each other at an interface that is substantially orthogonal to a media-facing surface of the heat-assisted magnetic recording head, and

wherein the interface comprises a surface of the anchor disk and a surface of the middle disk.

15. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 7 ,

wherein the anchor disk and the plasmonic disk are coupled to each other at an interface that is substantially orthogonal to the media-facing surface, and

wherein the interface comprises a surface of the plasmonic disk and a surface of the anchor disk.

16. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 7 , further comprising a heat sink,

wherein the heat sink is disposed in a down-track direction relative to the middle disk, and

wherein the heat sink is coupled to the middle disk.

17. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 16 ,

wherein the heat sink and the middle disk are coupled to each other at an interface that is substantially orthogonal to the media-facing surface, and

wherein the interface comprises a surface of the middle disk and a surface of the heat sink.

18. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 7 , further comprising a waveguide,

wherein the waveguide is disposed in an up-track direction relative to the middle disk, and

wherein the plasmonic disk is coupled to the waveguide.

19. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 18 ,

wherein the plasmonic disk and the waveguide are coupled to each other at an interface that is substantially orthogonal to the media-facing surface, and

wherein the interface comprises a surface of the waveguide and a surface of the plasmonic disk.

20. A heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprising:

a plasmonic disk;

a near-field emitter comprising:

a peg configured to produce a hot spot on a proximal magnetic disk, the peg disposed proximal to a media-facing surface of the heat-assisted magnetic recording head; and

an anchor disk disposed behind the peg relative to the media-facing surface; and

a middle disk having a melting temperature of at least 1500 degrees Celsius,

wherein the plasmonic disk is disposed in an up-track direction relative to the middle disk, and

wherein the anchor disk is coupled to the plasmonic disk,

wherein the middle disk is disposed in a down-track direction relative to the near-field emitter and is coupled to the anchor disk, and

wherein the middle disk comprises at least one of iridium, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, platinum, or palladium.