[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11104]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DR. RAJIV RANJAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 24, 2005

  Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the 
achievements of Dr. Rajiv Ranjan and would like to honor his 
extraordinary contributions and pioneering research work in the field 
of magnetic recording, which have led to a number of technological 
breakthroughs.
  Dr. Ranjan has led the effort in the next generation of perpendicular 
media technology that is destined for the market place in the near 
future. His focus is in the field of low noise media. Prior to the mid-
1980s, industry recorded information on oxide media. These media had 
limitations to attaining high areal density (recording density per unit 
area). One proposed alternative was sputtered thin-film media, but the 
media had high-levels of media noise. Rajiv, along with his team, 
demonstrated low-noise possibilities for thin film media.
  This work led to an industry-wide transition to sputtered thin-media. 
These low-noise media led to a tremendous increase in areal density and 
resulted in lower cost data storage products, followed by a wider usage 
in the personal computers. These products are now being incorporated 
into consumer electronic products, such as MP3 players, PDA, cell-
phones and more.
  Another of his key inventions is laser texturing of a selective area 
of the disc surface. This enabled the recording head to fly closer to 
the medium surface and enabled increased areal density. This also 
enabled a faster take-off of the head and reliable landing of the head 
during power on/off. The net result is higher areal density and a more 
reliable and safer drive. Over a billion disc-drives have been sold 
with laser-textured media.
  Rajiv holds over 54 U.S. patents, many of them currently used in 
data-storage products.
  Dr. Rajiv Ranjan has devoted his life to enrich and advance society 
through technology, and his contribution deserves to be honored to 
serve as an inspiration.
  I am proud that Dr. Rajiv Ranjan lives in the 16th Congressional 
District where he is an active and respected member of his community as 
well as an admired scientist. Please join me, Mr. Speaker, in offering 
our congratulations for his success and our admiration for his 
leadership both in technology and the arts, but also in his family and 
community.