Spontaneous Symmetry-Breaking of an Optical Antenna

In this example, we examine an optical system for Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording. The system includes a TE waveguide and 40 nm thick planar gold antenna sitting on top of it. The peg of the antenna couples optical energy to a practical hard disk medium consisting of DLC, Air, DLC, FePt, MgO, Au and SiO2. The figure of merit is absorption in a 50x50x10 nm3 volume of FePt, the storage layer of the media.