This invention relates to a magnetic recording and optical reproducing apparatus in which a magneto-optical effect is utilized so as to reproduce information magnetically recorded on a recording medium by applying a recording magnetic field from a magnetic head.
It has been confirmed that an information bit length as short as 0.1 .mu.m in terms of a linear bit density can be recorded on a recording medium according to a recording method in which a recording magnetic field generated from a magnetic head is used to magnetically record information on the recording medium, as described in, for example, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-23, No. 5, SEPTEMBER 1987, page 2070."
On the other hand, a method utilizing a magneto-optical effect for the high-sensitivity reproduction of information magnetically recorded on a recording medium is described in, for example, JP-A-55-153142.