Provided is an optical fiber illuminator used for recording and reading
high density optical information according to a near field recording
(NFR) scheme, a method of fabricating the optical fiber illuminator, and
an optical recording head and recording apparatus having the optical
fiber illuminator. The optical fiber illuminator includes: an optical
fiber having a core upon which light is incident and a clad that
surrounds the core, one end of the optical fiber having a mirror formed
in an inclined manner; and a lens formed on an outer surface of the
optical fiber for focusing light reflected by the mirror. The optical
fiber illuminator has an improved optical arrangement for optical
illumination and detection, it is easy to manufacture, its optical input
is easy to control, and it can be readily provided in an array form. When
an array type optical recording and reading apparatus having an optical
recording head and multiple aperture probes adopts the optical fiber
illuminator, the resulting simple arrangement and compact size enables
size reduction of the overall apparatus, a signal to noise ratio is high,
and high density optical information can be recorded and reproduced at an
extremely high rate.