Excitation of airbearing oscillation with tar nearfield device for touchdown detection

1. A magnetic head, comprising:

a slider having a media-facing surface; and

a device coupled to the slider and being selectively extendible for selectively contacting a magnetic medium at a frequency of between about 200 and about 600 kHz;

wherein the device is configured to expand and contract at the frequency upon being repeatedly heated and cooled for inducing the contacting of the magnetic medium at the frequency;

wherein the device has a time constant of thermal protrusion of less than about 0.4 microsecond for a protrusion of 1 nm.

2. The magnetic head as recited in claim 1 , wherein the device is a near field transducer.

3. The magnetic head as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a heater for inducing thermal protrusion of the media-facing surface in a vicinity of the device, the thermal protrusion moving the device towards the magnetic medium.

4. The magnetic head as recited in claim 1 , wherein the selective contacting at the frequency induces an oscillation in a flying height of the slider relative to the medium, wherein the slider is designed to fly above the magnetic medium on an air bearing during write operations.

5. The magnetic head as recited in claim 4 , further comprising a sensor for detecting a magnetic field of the magnetic medium, the oscillation being detectable by analysis of a readback signal from the sensor.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

the magnetic head as recited in claim 1 ; and

a controller configured to cause the device to selectively contact the magnetic medium repeatedly at the frequency.

7. A magnetic data storage system, comprising:

at least one magnetic head as recited in claim 1 ;

a magnetic medium;

a drive mechanism for passing the magnetic medium over the at least one magnetic head; and

a controller electrically coupled to the at least one magnetic head for controlling operation of the at least one magnetic head.

8. The system as recited in claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to detect an oscillation in a flying height of the slider relative to the medium by analyzing a readback signal from a sensor of the slider.

9. A magnetic data storage system, comprising:

a slider having a media-facing surface;

a magnetic medium;

a device coupled to the slider and being selectively extendible for selectively and repeatedly contacting the magnetic medium for inducing and maintaining an oscillation in a flying height of the slider relative to the medium;

a drive mechanism for passing the magnetic medium over the at least one slider; and

a controller electrically coupled to the device for controlling operation of the device;

wherein the device is configured to expand and contract at a frequency upon being repeatedly heated and cooled for inducing the repeated contacting of the magnetic medium at the frequency;

wherein the device has a time constant of thermal protrusion of less than about 0.4 microsecond for a protrusion of 1 nm.

10. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the device is a near field transducer.

11. The system as recited in claim 9 , further comprising a heater for inducing thermal protrusion of the media-facing surface in a vicinity of the device, the thermal protrusion moving the device towards the magnetic medium.

12. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the oscillation induced by the contacting is at a frequency of between about 200 and about 600 kHz.

13. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the slider includes a sensor for detecting a magnetic field of the magnetic medium, the oscillation being detectable by analysis of a readback signal from the sensor.

14. The system as recited in claim 13 , wherein the controller is configured to detect the oscillation in a flying height of the slider relative to the medium by analyzing the readback signal from the sensor.

15. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the slider is designed to fly above the magnetic medium on an air bearing during write operations.