Components for, and assembly of, a thermally assisted recording device involve a laser mounted to a recording head slider. The output from the laser is directed into an optical waveguide, which delivers the laser light to the media to be written. Several challenges with thermally assisted recording are enabled by the use of a laser carrier, which holds and protects the small, relatively fragile laser and serves as a partial heat sink for the power generated by the laser. The laser, carrier and slider are bonded and can be interconnected as a unit to a suspension constituent to a hard disk drive (HDD) device.