An apparatus includes a storage medium, and a transducer positioned adjacent to the storage medium, wherein the transducer includes a first electrode and a second electrode, with the width of the first electrode being less than the width of the second electrode. A method including: applying a first voltage to a transducer to write data to a storage medium, and applying a second voltage to the transducer to read data from the storage medium, wherein the magnitude of the first voltage is greater than the magnitude of the second voltage.