Abstract: In an optical disk medium, land recording tracks (1) are coupled by first and second coupling portions (3 and 4) at a particular radial position to form a tilt detecting mark SM.

Abstract: In an optical head apparatus, reflected light from the disk is diffracted by a hologram optical element, and received by an optical detector. A focusing error signal is detected from ?1st-order diffracted light of the hologram optical element. A tracking error signal by the differential phase method, a tracking error signal by a push-pull method and the data signal recorded on the disk are detected from +1st-order diffracted light of the hologram optical element. A diffraction efficiency of the +1st-order diffracted light is higher than a diffraction efficiency of the ?1st-order diffracted light.

Abstract: Light emitted from a light source and having a wavelength of 400 nm is reflected by a beam splitter (BS), and converged on a disk according to a next-generation standard. Reflection light therefrom passes through the BS and is received by a photodetector. Light emitted from a light source and having a wavelength of 660 nm is reflected by the BS and passes through the BS, and converged on a disk according to a DVD standard. Reflection light therefrom passes through the BS and is received by the photodetector. About 50% of light emitted from a light source and having a wavelength of 780 nm is reflected by the BS. The light passes through the BS and is then converged on a disk according to a CD standard. Reflection light therefrom passes through the BS. About 50% of the light passes through the BS and is received by the photodetector. Thus, recording and reproduction can be performed on any of disks according to a next-generation standard, DVD standard, and CD standard.

Abstract: To improve a tilt detection sensitivity and to detect a tangential tilt of recordable and rewritable optical recording media where no signal is recorded previously, An optical head assembly includes a semiconductor laser 6, an objective lens 5 which focuses a laser beam onto a disk D, and a photodetector 9 adapted to receive reflected light from the disk D.

Abstract: In an optical head for use in an optical data recording/reproducing apparatus of the present invention, light emitted from a semiconductor laser is split into a main beam that is zeroth order light and sub-beams that are plus and minus first-order diffracted light. A focus error signal is detected from each of the main beam and sub-beams. A diffractive optical lens causes the main beam and sub-beams to differ in light intensity distribution from each other when incident to an objective lens. As a result, when a disk or optical recording medium has a thickness error, the focus error signal derived from the main beam and focus error signals derived from the sub-beams differ in zero-crossing point from each other. The thickness error is detected on the basis of the difference between the zero-crossing points.

Abstract: Four types of optical systems, a polarization optical system including an objective lens having a high numerical aperture, a polarization optical system including an objective lens having a low numerical aperture, a non-polarization optical system including an objective lens having a high numerical aperture and a non-polarization optical system including an objective lens having a low numerical aperture, are selectively used at the time of irradiating light from a semiconductor laser on a target disk for measurement, and the in-plane birefringence characteristic and perpendicular birefringence characteristic of the target disk are separately acquired based on the amounts of received light obtained by measuring reflected light from the target disk by a photosensor.

Abstract: An optical head unit is provided including a first light source emitting a light with a first wavelength, a second light source emitting a light with a second wavelength, and a third light source emitting a light with a third wavelength. The optical head unit also includes a first objective lens irradiating the light emitted from the first light source onto an optical recording medium, a second objective lens irradiating the light emitted from the second light source or the light emitted from the third light source onto an optical recording medium, and a photodetector receiving a reflected light from the optical recording medium.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an optical head apparatus which are capable of detecting correctly a radial tilt of an optical recording medium, without allowing offsets in radial tilt signals, even when an objective lens is shifted in a radial direction. A beam emitted from a semiconductor laser is divided into 0th order main beam and ±1st order sub beams. The three beams are shifted in the radial direction of the disc. The three beams reflected from the disc are diffracted by a holographic element, and are received by a photo detector. With respect to the main beam and the sub beams, a radial tilt of the disc is detected on the basis of a difference between intensities of the main and sub beams diffracted from a plurality of regions of the holographic element.

Abstract: The light emitted from a semiconductor laser is divided by a diffractive optical element into three light beams which are 0th-order light as the main beam and ±1st-order diffracted lights as the sub-beams, and the track error signals by the main beam and the sub-beams are detected, respectively, by a differential phase detection method. By the effect of the diffractive optical element, the light intensity distributions of the main beam and the sub-beams become different when making incidence on an objective lens. Therefore, when there is radial tilt in a disk, the phases of the track error signals by the main beam and the sub-beams are shifted with each other. Based on the shift in the phases of the track error signals, radial tilt of the disk is detected.

Abstract: In an optical disk apparatus for focusing a light beam on a track of an optical disk by using a tracking control loop to perform at least one of recording and reproducing operations upon the optical disk, a loop level calculating unit calculates loop levels of the tracking control loop. A control unit calculates a loop gain of the tracking control loop in accordance with the loop levels of the tracking control loop and compensates for a radial tilt of the optical disk in accordance with the calculated loop gain of the tracking control loop.

Abstract: The present invention provides an optical information recording/reproducing device which comprises a light source for emitting a light, a light transmitting system including an objective lens for focusing the emitted light onto an optical storage medium and a photo-detector system for detecting a reflected light from the optical storage medium, wherein before the light is incident into the objective lens, the light has been divided into a main beam and at least a sub-beam which are different in intensity distribution from each other, and the photo-detector system detects first and second track error signals from the main beam and the sub-beam separately, and said photo-detector system further obtains a difference in phase between the first and second track error signals in order to detect a radial tilt of the optical storage medium on the basis of the difference in phase, and further a compensation of the radial tilt is made on the basis of the detected radial tilt.

Abstract: In an optical head apparatus for an optical recording medium, including a light source for emitting a light beam, an objective lens for focusing the light beam at the optical recording medium and receiving a reflected light beam from the optical recording medium, and a photodetector for receiving the reflected light beam from the objective lens, a unit is provided between the light source and the objective lens to generate a main beam and a sub beam from the light beam. The intensity distributions of the main beam and the sub beam are different from each other, and the sub beam is divided into a plurality of portions having different phase distributions from each other. The photodetector includes photodetecting portions for each of the main beam and the sub beam, thus obtaining a push-pull signal from each of the main beam and the sub beam.

Abstract: In an optical head apparatus, reflected light from the disk is diffracted by a hologram optical element, and received by an optical detector. A focusing error signal is detected from −1st-order diffracted light of the hologram optical element. A tracking error signal by the differential phase method, a tracking error signal by a push-pull method and the data signal recorded on the disk are detected from +1st-order diffracted light of the hologram optical element. A diffraction efficiency of the +1st-order diffracted light is higher than a diffraction efficiency of the −1st-order diffracted light.

Abstract: In an optical head apparatus including a first light source for emitting a first light beam having a first wavelength, a second light source for emitting a second light beam having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, an objective lens, a photodetector, and first and second optical combining/splitting elements, the first optical combining/splitting element receives the first light beam from the first light source to outgo most of the first light beam therefrom to the second optical combining/splitting element and receives the first and second light beams from the second optical combining/splitting element to outgo most of the first and second light beams therefrom to the photodetector.

Abstract: Light emitted from a semiconductor laser is separated by a diffractive optical element into a main beam, first sub beams, and second sub beams. The distribution of the intensity of each of the first sub beams is the same as the distribution of the intensity of the main beam. The distribution of the intensity of each of the second sub beams is different from the distribution of the intensity of the main beam. The sum of the focusing error signals relating to the main beam and the first sub beams is a final focusing error signal. The difference between the tracking error signal relating to the main beam and the tracking error signal of each of the first sub beam is a final tracking error signal. The deviation of the thickness of the substrate of the disk and the radial tilt thereof are detected on the basis of the deviation of the zero crossing points of the focusing error signal and the tracking error signal relating to the main beam and each of the second sub beams.

Abstract: Light emitted from a semiconductor laser is separated by a diffractive optical element into a main beam, first sub beams, and second sub beams. The distribution of the intensity of each of the first sub beams is the same as the distribution of the intensity of the main beam. The distribution of the intensity of each of the second sub beams is different from the distribution of the intensity of the main beam. The sum of the focusing error signals relating to the main beam and the first sub beams is a final focusing error signal. The difference between the tracking error signal relating to the main beam and the tracking error signal of each of the first sub beam is a final tracking error signal. The deviation of the thickness of the substrate of the disk and the radial tilt thereof are detected on the basis of the deviation of the zero crossing points of the focusing error signal and the tracking error signal relating to the main beam and each of the second sub beams.

Abstract: An optical head device and an optical recording and reproducing apparatus using this optical head device, which can record information and reproduce the recorded information at any of optical recording media, such as a next generation optical recording medium, in which the wavelength of the light source is made to be shorter, the numerical aperture of the objective lens is made to be higher, and the thickness of the recording medium is made to be thinner, and conventional recording media of DVD and CD standards, are provided. A light having wavelength of 405 nm, emitted from one of optics, is inputted to an objective lens as a collimated light, and is focused on a disk having thickness of 0.1 mm. A light having wavelength of 650 nm, emitted from the other of optics, is inputted to the objective lens as a diverged light, and is focused on a disk having thickness of 0.6 mm.

Abstract: In an optical head device and an optical information recording/reproducing device using the optical head device, by driving a liquid crystal panel 4a, the liquid crystal panel 4a produces wave aberration for light on a going path and light on a returning path likewise. Accordingly, when the substrate-thickness deviation or tilt of the disc 7 is corrected, the wave aberration due to the substrate-thickness deviation or tilt of the disc 7 and the wave aberration produced by the liquid crystal panel 4a are canceled by each other for both of the light on the going path and the light on the returning path, so that no wave aberration remains for the light on the returning path and the phase distribution is not varied.

Abstract: The present invention provides an optical information recording/reproducing device which comprises a light source for emitting a light, a light transmitting system including an objective lens for focusing the emitted light onto an optical storage medium and a photo-detector system for detecting a reflected light from the optical storage medium, wherein before the light is incident into the objective lens, the light has been divided into a main beam and at least a sub-beam which are different in intensity distribution from each other, and the photo-detector system detects first and second track error signals from the main beam and the sub-beam separately, and said photo-detector system further obtains a difference in phase between the first and second track error signals in order to detect a radial tilt of the optical storage medium on the basis of the difference in phase, and further a compensation of the radial tilt is made on the basis of the detected radial tilt.

Abstract: The invention detects the thickness error of the transparent substrate using a general focus error signal detection system employing the fact that the reflecting light from the optical disk causes distortions in diffraction image at the detection plane or unsymmetrical expansions before and after the detection plane due to spherical aberration as a result of thickness errors of the transparent substrate. The absolute amount of the thickness error of the transparent substrate and its symbol are detected by detecting the difference between the absolute value of the positive side peak and the absolute value of the negative side peak of the focus sum signal, or the difference in focus positions between the peak point of the focus sum signals and the zero point of the focus error signals using the focus error signal detection system according to the knife-edge method. This enables it to detect the thickness error of the transparent substrate without using a special optical system.