A system and method for adjusting the flying height of a magnetic head above a
magnetic storage medium, such as a disk, is disclosed. A charging surface of the
slider, separate from the read/write head, allows a charging electrical interconnect
to apply an electrical charge to the slider. By acting as a quasi-parallel capacitor,
the amount of spacing in the head-disk interface may be increased or decreased
based on the amount of voltage applied. The slider may be electrically isolated
from the suspension. Simultaneously, a heating element deforms the slider to further
adjust the spacing between the read/write head and the disk surface. A feedback
control system may monitor and control the head-disk spacing by measuring a temperature
or other environmental conditions surrounding the slider and disk.