strong and sharply defined magnetic fields emanating from the pole tips magnetize the media with similarly strong and sharp magnetic bits the pole tips 48 and 50 are preferably close enough to the media that perpendicular write fields predominate in keeping with this preference for perpendicular recording the media layer 55 in this embodiment has an easy axis of magnetization substantially perpendicular to a surface 57 of the disk 25 with a hard carbon based overcoat 58 separating the head from the media in order for perpendicular fields to predominate the distance between the pole tips and the media must generally be a small fraction of the spacing between pole tips which is accomplished in the embodiment shown with a gap 52 of about 2 000 u00e5 and an overcoat 58 and media layer 55 each about 100 u00e5 in thickness the media layer 55 may be composed of a stack of thin films alternating between primarily cobalt chrome films and noble metal such as platinum films with crystalline grains transcending the films for reduced intermagnetic coupling as disclosed in co pending u s pat app ser no 08 607 003 which is hereby incorporated by reference the mr sensor 33 in simplest amr form is a thin 100 u00e5 300 u00e5 thick layer formed of permalloy ni 0 8 fe 0 2 or other known.