Disk drives comprise a disk and a head connected to a distal end of an actuator arm which is rotated about a pivot by a voice coil motor (VCM) to position the head radially over the disk. The disk comprises a plurality of radially spaced, concentric tracks for recording user data sectors and embedded servo sectors. The embedded servo sectors comprise head positioning information (e.g., a track address) which is read by the head and processed by a servo controller to control the velocity of the actuator arm as it seeks from track to track.
Data is typically written to the disk by modulating a write current in an inductive coil to record magnetic transitions onto the disk surface in a process referred to as saturation recording. During readback, the magnetic transitions are sensed by a read element (e.g., a magnetoresistive element) and the resulting read signal demodulated by a suitable read channel. Heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is a recent development that improves the quality of written data by heating the disk surface with a laser during write operations in order to decrease the coercivity of the magnetic medium, thereby enabling the magnetic field generated by the write coil to more readily magnetize the disk surface.
Any suitable fly height actuator 12 may be employed in the embodiments of the present invention, such as a heater which controls the fly height through thermal expansion, or a piezoelectric (PZT) actuator which may deflect toward the disk when energized (e.g., with a driving voltage). The fly height actuator 12 is controlled to maintain the head at a target fly height during write and read operations. When not performing write/read operations, the fly height actuator 12 may be controlled to increase the fly height of the head so as to avoid collisions with asperities on the disk.
Any suitable laser 10 may be employed in the embodiments of the present invention, such as a laser diode. In addition, embodiments of the present invention may employ any suitable techniques for focusing the laser 10 on the disk 4, such as a suitable waveguide, magnifying lens, or other suitable elements. Also in the embodiment of
The protrusion transient shown in the dashed line of
The pre-laser interval may comprise any suitable duration in order to reduce the protrusion transient of the head toward the disk.
In the embodiment of
In one embodiment, the pre-laser interval may be adjusted over time to account for changes in the laser 10. For example, the laser may degrade over the life of the disk drive which may change the resulting protrusion transient at the beginning of write operations. In one embodiment, the laser power may be periodically recalibrated in order to account for a degrading laser 10. When the laser power is recalibrated, there may be a corresponding recalibration of the pre-laser interval and/or the function that controls the fly height actuator 12 during the pre-laser interval.
Any suitable control circuitry may be employed to implement the flow diagrams in the embodiments of the present invention, such as any suitable integrated circuit or circuits. For example, the control circuitry may be implemented within a read channel integrated circuit, or in a component separate from the read channel, such as a disk controller, or certain operations described above may be performed by a read channel and others by a disk controller. In one embodiment, the read channel and disk controller are implemented as separate integrated circuits, and in an alternative embodiment they are fabricated into a single integrated circuit or system on a chip (SOC). In addition, the control circuitry may include a suitable preamp circuit implemented as a separate integrated circuit, integrated into the read channel or disk controller circuit, or integrated into an SOC.
In one embodiment, the control circuitry comprises a microprocessor executing instructions, the instructions being operable to cause the microprocessor to perform the flow diagrams described herein. The instructions may be stored in any computer-readable medium. In one embodiment, they may be stored on a non-volatile semiconductor memory external to the microprocessor, or integrated with the microprocessor in a SOC. In another embodiment, the instructions are stored on the disk and read into a volatile semiconductor memory when the disk drive is powered on. In yet another embodiment, the control circuitry comprises suitable logic circuitry, such as state machine circuitry.
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