Abstract: Disclosed is an objective lens of an optical pick-up that converges light beams of two different wavelengths onto recording layers of optical discs of two different standards, respectively. The objective lens includes a refractive lens having a positive power and a diffractive lens structure formed on one surface of the refractive lens. The diffractive lens structure has a plurality of concentric ring areas with minute steps at the boundaries therebetween. The diffractive lens structure maximizes the diffraction efficiency of the third order diffracted light at the shorter wavelength and maximizes the diffraction efficiency of the second order diffracted light at the longer wavelength. This enables the diffractive lens structure to correct the chromatic aberration at the respective wavelengths with keeping high diffraction efficiency.

Abstract: An optical system of an optical pick-up that is capable of using thin cover type and thick cover type optical discs. The system includes a light source portion for emitting a short wavelength laser beam for the thin cover type optical disc and a long wavelength laser beam for the thick cover type optical disc, and an objective lens for converging the laser beam onto an information layer of the optical disc through the cover layer. The objective lens has a diffractive lens structure having wavelength dependence such that spherical aberration varies in the overcorrected direction as incident wavelength increases. The light source portion emits the laser beam such that divergence of the long wavelength laser beam incident on the objective lens is larger than that of the short wavelength laser beam. The objective lens converges the laser beams of an identical diffractive order without changing position thereof.

Abstract: When it is intended to realize a lens having a large NA with one lens, an adjustment precision between both surfaces of the lens is very strict. Accordingly an objective lens having an NA of 0.8 or more was usually realized by two lenses. However, a working distance is small, and collision of the objective lens with a disc is apt to occur. A coma corrector for compensating coma caused by decentering of both surfaces in realizing the high NA lens with one lens is added. However, in this case, astigmatism occurs when the objective lens decenters from the coma corrector relatively accompanied with a tracking operation. The objective lens and the coma corrector are fixed to a mirror barrel so as to be unified with each other, and driven by a two-dimensional lens actuator. With such a constitution, decentering of the objective lens and the coma corrector does not occur, and hence astigmatism does not occur.

Abstract: An objective lens for an optical head converges a first laser beam having a relatively short wavelength and a second laser beam having a relatively long wavelength on first optical disc (DVD) and a second optical disc (CD), respectively. A protective layer of the first disc is thinner than a protective layer of the second optical disc. The objective lens is compensated for astigmatism with respect to the first beam, which is incident on the objective lens as an off-axis beam at a predetermined incident angle, by providing on-axis astigmatism corresponding to wave front aberration greater than or equal to 0.01&lgr; (rms), and the objective lens is configured such that the coma is compensated better in a case where the first laser beam is converged on the first optical disc than in a case where the second laser beam is converged on the second optical disc.

Abstract: An objective lens converges a shorter wavelength laser beam on a DVD having a protective layer, which is 0.6 mm thick, and a longer wavelength laser beam on a CD having a protective layer, which is 1.2 mm thick. A common region is defined on the objective lens. The common region provides a numerical aperture appropriate for converging the longer wavelength laser beam on the CD. Coma of the objective lens in the first region is compensated better in a case where the longer wavelength laser beam is converged on the CD than a case where the shorter wavelength laser beam is converged on the DVD.

Abstract: An optical system of an optical pick-up includes a light source portion that selectively emits a first laser beam (shorter wavelength) and a second laser beam (longer wavelength), and an objective lens for converging the first laser beam onto a first optical disc and for converging the second laser beam onto a second optical disc. The second optical disc has lower recording density and a thicker cover layer than the first optical disc. The divergence of the second laser beam incident on the objective lens is larger than that of the first laser beam, correcting one part of spherical aberration caused by a difference in thickness of the cover layer. A diffractive lens structure is formed on a surface of the refractive lens so that the residual part of the spherical aberration is corrected by switching the wavelength of the laser beam.

Abstract: The objective lens is a biconvex plastic lens having first and second surfaces which are both aspheric. The objective lens is divided into an inside area which is inside of a circle of an effective diameter of the objective lens and an outside area which is outside of the circle of the effective diameter. A diffractive lens structure having a plurality of concentric ring-shaped steps is formed in the inside area. A surface of the outside area is continuous with no steps and corresponds to a macroscopic base curve of the inside area. The objective lens has a gap of a spherical aberration between the inside area and the outside area.

Abstract: There is provided an optical system of an optical pick-up for a plurality of types of optical discs, which is provided with a plurality of light sources that support the plurality of types of optical discs, a first coupling lens that is used at least for the first optical disc, and an objective lens that is used for the plurality of types of optical discs. A beam for the first optical disc emitted by the plurality of light sources passes through the first coupling lens and is incident on the objective lens as a diverging beam, the diverging beam being given spherical aberration by the coupling lens. When the objective lens shift occurs, a coma component relating to the spherical aberration of the diverging beam which is shifted with respect to the objective lens due to the shift of the objective lens is canceled by a coma generated by the objective lens and the cover layer of the first optical disc.

Abstract: There is provided an objective lens for an optical pick-up used for different types of optical discs. The objective lens has at least one surface on which a plurality of annular zones are formed. The at least one surface is divided into an inner area having a low NA and an outer area having high NA outside the inner area. Further, with regard to a light beam used for a second optical disc (e.g., a DVD), an optical path difference generated between at least one of steps formed between adjacent annular zones of the plurality of annular zones within the outer area is lower by a predetermined amount than an integral multiple of a wavelength of the light beam used for the second optical disc.

Abstract: An optical pick-up includes light sources for emitting light beams having different wavelength, the light sources being switched according to the kind of optical discs, a refractive lens element for converging the light beams from the light sources onto recording layer of the optical disc; and a spherical aberration correcting element on which a concentric phase grating structure is formed, the phase grating structure altering spherical aberration in response to change of wavelength to correct change of the spherical aberration due to change of the thickness of the cover layer. The spherical aberration correcting element has a wavelength dependence such that spherical aberration varies in the undercorrected direction as wavelength of incident light increases.

Abstract: A single element objective lens for an optical disc drive converges a laser beam, which is emitted by a laser source, on a data recording surface of an optical disc through a protective layer of the optical disc. One surface of the objective lens is divided into a central area including an optical axis thereof and a peripheral area surrounding the central area. The peripheral area is provided with a diffraction lens structure formed by a plurality of concentric annular zones including minute steps. The central area is a continuous surface having no stepped portions. The diffraction lens structure compensates for variation of converging characteristic of the objective lens due to a change of a temperature.

Abstract: An optical system for an optical head employed in an optical disc drive, which uses a plurality of kinds of optical discs having different thickness cover layers, is provided with a light source, an objective lens and a light receiving unit. A plurality of diverging light beams having different wavelengths are emitted from a plurality of light emitting points, respectively. One of the light emitting points is used depending on a thickness of a cover layer of a currently loaded optical disc. The objective lens is capable of converging each diverging beam on a data recording surface of the optical disc. The light receiving unit receives a beam reflected by the optical disc and generates electronic signals representing the recorded data. In this optical system, an image magnification M of the objective lens satisfies a condition: −0.144<M<−0.099.

Abstract: An optical disc apparatus includes a fixed portion having a light source portion and a movable portion that holds an objective lens and moves along a radial direction of an optical disc. The fixed portion includes the light source portion for selectively emitting short and long wavelength laser beams, and a collimator lens for collimating the laser beams. The objective lens includes a positive refractive lens and a diffractive lens structure formed on a surface of the refractive lens. The diffractive lens structure has wavelength dependence such that spherical aberration varies in the undercorrected direction as wavelength of incident light increases. The objective lens converges the short wavelength laser beam of a predetermined diffraction order onto an informatlon layer of a thin cover type optical disc, and converges the long wavelength laser beam of the identical diffraction order onto an information layer of a thick cover type optical disc.

Abstract: An objective lens for an optical pickup has a single lens element. One surface of the objective lens is divided into a central area and a peripheral area, and a step providing a level difference along a direction of the optical axis is formed at a boundary therebetween. The step provides a phase shift between light passing through the central area and the peripheral area. The level difference is formed such that a thickness on the peripheral area side is greater than a thickness on the central area side at the boundary.

Abstract: A method for designing a diffractive lens that separates an incident light beam into a plurality of beams and condenses the respective separated beams is provided. The method includes: defining an expression of a diffractive surface having a beam converging function based on given focal length; defining an expression of a diffractive surface having a beam separating function that separates a light beam into plural orders of diffractive light based on said given focal length, a given number of separated light and a given distance between focusing points; and superimposing the defined expressions of the diffractive surface having the beam converging function and the diffractive surface having the beam separating function to determine a shape of the diffractive lens having a plurality of optical functions.

Abstract: An objective lens for an optical pickup is configured such that, when a light beam having a wavelength corresponding to the optical disc requiring the higher NA is converged on the optical disc requiring the higher NA at the higher NA, the phase of light flux passed through the peripheral area is substantially the same as that passed through the central area. When a light beam having a wavelength corresponding to the optical disc requiring the lower NA is converged on the optical disc requiring the lower NA at the lower NA, the phase of light flux passed through a first annular region included in the peripheral area is different from that passed through the central area, and the phase of light flux passed through a second annular region, which is outside the first region, is substantially the same as that passed through the central area.

Abstract: An objective lens of an optical pick-up is formed to provide axial astigmatism corresponding to wavefront aberration of 0.01&lgr; [rms] or more when a shorter wavelength laser beam emitted by a first laser diode is converged on a first optical disc, and to provide coma so that its sign when the shorter wavelength laser beam is converged on the first optical disc will be opposite to its sign when a longer wavelength laser beam emitted by a second laser diode is converged on a second optical disc.

Abstract: An objective lens for an optical pick-up has a refractive lens element provided with a diffraction lens structure on at least one surface thereof. The diffraction lens structure has a plurality of annular zones. The objective lens is capable of converging at least two beams having different wavelengths on at least two types of optical discs having different data recording densities, respectively. The objective lens is partitioned into a common area through which a beam with a low NA passes, and an exclusive high NA area which is designed to converge a beam with a high NA. The boundaries of the annular zones formed on the exclusive high NA area are designed independently from boundaries obtained from an optical path difference function so that the beam with the high NA is converged substantially on a certain point and the beam with the low NA is diffused.

Abstract: A diffraction optical element is configured such that a plurality of annular zones having minute steps extending in a direction of the optical axis therebetween are formed on a base element. The plurality of annular zones include narrow and wide zones respectively satisfying conditions (1) and (2): &Dgr;Z(i)<(1/2)·&Dgr;E(i)  (1), and &Dgr;Z(i)>(3/2)·&Dgr;E(i)  (2), wherein, i represents the order of the steps counted from the optical axis, &Dgr;E(i) represents an absolute value of an OPD provided by the i-th step, and &Dgr;Z(i) represents an absolute value of a difference between OPDs provided, with respect to a base curve, by an inner side end portion and outer side end portion of an annular zone between an i-th step and (i+1)-th step.

Abstract: A single-element objective lens for an optical pick-up directs an incident light beam to a data recording surface of an optical disc through a cover layer to form a beam spot thereon. A numerical aperture of the objective lens is 0.7 or more. The objective lens is configured to compensate for coma such that a characteristic of a change of spherical aberration due to a degree of divergence/convergence of the incident beam is comparable with respect to a characteristic of a change of spherical aberration due to variation of the cover layer so that the change of spherical aberration due to variation of the cover layer can be cancelled by the change of spherical aberration due to a degree of divergence/convergence of the incident beam.