A heat-assisted magnetic recording head mounted on an end of a slider
having an Air Bearing Surface ("ABS") for recording data on a recording
medium. The heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a magnetic
path forming unit that generates a magnetic field for recording the data,
a light source that emits light heating a local region of the recording
medium, a waveguide located on a side of the magnet path forming unit to
transmit the light emitted from the light source, an optical path
conversion unit that changes a direction of the light transmitted from
the waveguide to the local region of the recording medium, and a
nano-aperture that generates an enhanced near-field effect by converting
an energy distribution of the light transmitted via the optical path
conversion unit.