In a particular embodiment, a recording head includes a tapered waveguide
adapted to propagate light from a light source a slider adjacent to a
surface of a storage medium. The tapered waveguide is adapted to output
an elliptical beam to a grating coupler on a slider. The recording head
further includes a slider waveguide extending substantially normal to a
surface of the storage medium and a grating adapted to couple the
elliptical beam into the slider waveguide.