Presented here is a novel design for a vertical cavity surface emitting laser for supplying heat to a recording medium in a magnetic recording drive, in an attempt to overcome the superparamagnetic limit. Included in the thesis is a discussion of the requirement for a system to focus energy beyond the diffraction limit and onto a recording platter. Plasmonics is introduced as a method to achieve this focusing and the structure to be used in this work is presented. Initial modelling of the structure for a theoretical efficiency and hence feasibility of the design is then conducted. Fabrication of the device is discussed in detail and preliminary characterisation of the device is undertaken.