A comprehensive picture of magnetic recording: theory and experiment part I: fundamentals and digital recording

The present paper summarizes and extends previous publications on magnetic recording which described a recording model, that offers the possibility of quantifying the importance of various parameters of the medium and the hardware. Within this model computer simulations of the read/write process elucidate the broad scope of magnetic recording to an extent, nonexistent so far. All computations follow or adapt common measuring procedures which facilitate the verification of our theoretical findings by comparison with experimental data. In this first of two papers the theoretical analysis applies to digital recording, only. The presented results permit objective comparisons between different techniques and media. Moreover, they yield clear statements about the feasibility for improvements of magnetic recording.