Today magnetic recording is still the leading technology for mass data storage. Its dominant role is being reinforced by the success of cloud computing, which requires storing and managing huge amounts of data on a multitude of servers. Nonetheless, the hard-disk storage industry is presently at a crossroads as the current magnetic recording technologies are unable of achieving densities beyond 1 Tbit/in2.

Pushing the recording density in the terabit regime requires new storage materials, novel recording schemes, and media designs in order to solve signal-to-noise ratio, thermal stability, and writability issues. In this book, worldwide experts from universities, public research institutions, and industry collaborate to illustrate the most recent progresses in magnetic recording from the media perspective and to highlight the future prospects of the technology. Theoretical, experimental, and technological aspects are covered in a clear and comprehensive way, making the book a useful reference for final-year undergraduates, postgraduates, and research professionals in the magnetic recording area.

The first two chapters introduce the fundamentals of magnetism and magnetic recording and are useful to guide the reader in the chapters that follow. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 focus on the materials for conventional perpendicular recording media, next-generation recording media, and exchange-coupled composite media. The most promising technologies for next-generation magnetic recording, i.e., energy assisted and bit-patterned recording, are extensively treated in chapters 6 and 7, while chapter 8 covers the techniques and protocols for magnetic characterization of recording media. Finally, chapter 9 gives an overview of the emerging classes of magnetic memories.