Heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is now entering the commercial domain:
Seagate To Demo Its Revolutionary Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording Storage Technology At CEATEC 2013

The scientific objectives of COMPASS are to obtain pertinent knowledge about potential future scalable implementations of HAMR namely:
• Accurate models for high temperature laser operation
• Lasers suitable for integration
• Thermo-mechanical modelling
• Plasmonic characterisation