Abstract: In order that thickness reduction, weight reduction, and mass productivity improvement should be achieved in an objective lens even in the case where NA is high, an objective lens according to the present invention is a bi-convex single lens having at least one aspheric surface, and satisfies conditions: (1) 3.5<DH-S/DH-H?<4.2; (2) 3.5<DH?-T2/DT1-H<50; (3) 0.9<d/f<1.1 (NA?0.85).

Abstract: An objective lens unit according to the present invention includes a first objective lens 41; and a first lens holder 2 for supporting the first objective lens 41. The first lens holder 2 is formed of a material which transmits ultraviolet. Preferably, the first lens holder 2 includes a through-hole, having first and second openings 2a and 2b, through which light incident on the first objective lens 41 passes, and an opening limiting section 3 provided along a circumferential direction of the through-hole and projecting toward a central axis of the through-hole. The first objective lens 41 is supported so as to block the first opening 2b. The opening limiting section 3 guides light incident thereon from the second opening 2a in a direction away from an optical axis of the first objective lens.

Abstract: An adhesive positions a beam shaping element in such a manner as to satisfy the following relational expressions (1) and (2): 0<L??WA/(?·?·SAS)??(1) SAS=1000(0.5 m2+1.5 m?2)[m?/mm]??(2), if it is assumed that m is the beam shaping magnification of a beam shaping element, L[mm] is the distance from a light source side surface of the beam shaping elements to a center position of the adhesive, ?[1/K] is the linear expansion coefficient of a light source retaining holder, ?WA[m?] is amount of astigmatic aberration caused by the beam shaping element, and ?T[K] is an environmental temperature variation amount.

Abstract: An optical pickup includes: a laser light source which outputs an divergent beam having an elliptical far-field pattern; a beam shaping element having at least one cylindrical plane and which shapes the divergent beam outputted from the laser light source into an divergent beam having a prescribed shape in which at least the length in the major axis direction of the elliptical shape is shortened; a light collecting portion having a beam splitter which perpendicularly collects the divergent beam that is outputted from the beam shaping element and which has a prescribed shape on the recording surface of an optical disk, and a mirror or the like; and a light detecting portion The optical axis of the divergent beam is rotated so that the direction in which the major axis of the divergent beam having a prescribed shape is shortened conforms to the radial direction of an optical information recording medium.

Abstract: The present invention is provided with a detection region for detecting light that is reflected from a first or a second information recording medium and that passes through an optical element. The first information recording medium and the second information recording media are multi-layer disks that have at least two layers, and the detection region includes a detection region (41) for detecting first order and above diffracted light that has a first wavelength, and a detection region (42) for detecting first order and above diffracted light that has a second wavelength.

Abstract: A small optical pickup of wide spherical aberration correction range is provided.

Abstract: It is aimed to provide an optical head, an optical head manufacturing method and an optical disc device capable of correcting coma aberration generated due to different positions of emission points of a plurality of laser lights having different wavelengths. A two-wavelength laser light source 1 is arranged to correct coma aberration generated in a radial direction of a CD 80 in the case where an objective lens 6 is tilted to locate an inner peripheral end of the objective lens 6 in the radial direction of the CD 80 lower than an outer peripheral end thereof, and an objective lens actuator 9 tilts the objective lens 6 to locate the inner peripheral end of the objective lens 6 in the radial direction of the CD 80 lower than the outer peripheral end thereof.

Abstract: An optical pick-up capable of reproducing information excellently on both CD and DVD, which are significantly different in terms of three kinds of factors, a base material thickness, a wavelength of a light source, and NA, and detecting TE signals by three kinds of methods, that is, the phase difference method, the PP method, and the 3-beam method, which are necessary to record and reproduce information. The optical pick-up is formed by integrating laser light sources having two kinds of wavelengths (?1, ?2) for detecting TE signals; photodetectors, and hologram for generating the diffracted light for detecting signals. The distance d1 between the center of the photo detecting portion PD0 and the light emitting spot of the first semiconductor laser light source and a distance d2 between the center of the photo detecting portion PD0 and the light emitting spot of the second semiconductor laser light source substantially satisfy the following relationship: ?1/?2=d1/d2.

Abstract: The present invention provides a first light source (21) that emits light of a first wavelength, that at least either records onto or reproduces information from an information recording medium (30), a light source (22) that emits light of a second wavelength that records onto or reproduces information from an information recording medium (33), a light source (23) that emits light of a third wavelength that records onto or reproduces information from an information recording medium (23), focusing means, an optical element (28) that passes light of the first wavelength and diffracts light of the second and third wavelengths, wherein the optical element (28) is an optical element in which grooves are formed in a substrate, wherein the expression: 380 nm?(n?1)×d?420 nm is satisfied, where n is a refractive index of the substrate at a wavelength of 400 nm, and d (nm) is a depth per step of the grooves, and wherein the grooves are formed in two steps of depth d and depth 2d.

Abstract: An optical head device is provided with a light source 1 for emitting a plurality of lights having different wavelengths, an objective lens 31 for focusing a light spot on an optical disc 21, an objective lens 32 for focusing light spots on optical discs 22 to 24, and a prism 53 for splitting a laser light having a wavelength of 405 nm from the light source 1 into a transmitting light and a reflected light, introducing the reflected light to the objective lens 31 and the transmitting light to the objective lens 32, and introducing laser lights having wavelengths of 660 nm, 780 nm from the light source 1 to the objective lens 32.

Abstract: In an optical head device including a light source for emitting a light of a predetermined wavelength; a collimator lens for converting a divergence degree of the light; a folding mirror for folding a direction of the light emitted from the light source; an objective lens for converging the light on a recording surface of an optical disc; a photodetector for receiving the light reflected at the recording surface of the optical disc, and converting to an electric signal; and an optical path adjustment unit for guiding the light emitted from the light source to the collimator lens and guiding the light reflected at the recording surface of the optical disc to the photodetector; a wavelength plate for polarizing the light reflected by the folding mirror is arranged on an actuator base between the folding mirror and the objective lens.

Abstract: An optical pickup device which can more improve heat radiation efficiency and an optical disk apparatus including the optical pickup device are provided. The optical pickup device having a base (110), a laser unit (141), an optical system (140) which propagates a laser beam, and an adjusting member (142) includes a heat radiation part (146) which is fixed to a heat radiation surface (141b) of the laser unit and which conducts heat from the heat radiation surface to the adjusting member. Therefore, heat generated by the laser unit is transmitted to the adjusting member and then the base through the heat radiation part to make it possible to efficiently perform heat removal for the laser unit.

Abstract: An optical head which is capable of realizing a stable tracking control, even if the rotational center of an information recording medium is not located on the extension line of the transfer directions of a light-concentrating element, includes: a semiconductor laser which emits a beam of light; an objective lens which concentrates the beam of light on an optical disk; a transfer mechanism which transfers the objective lens between the outermost circumference and the innermost circumference of the recording area of the optical disk along the optical disk; and a photo-detector which detects a beam of light that returns from the optical disk. The photo-detector includes a plurality of areas which are divided by a division line.

Abstract: An optical head device according to the present invention includes a splitting section for splitting a light beam having been reflected from an optical storage medium. The splitting section includes: a first main region transmitting a first interfering portion; a second interfering portion transmitting a second main region; and first and second sub-regions through which the first interfering portion is transmitted with a lower rate than in the first main region and through which the second interfering portion is transmitted with a lower rate than in the second main region. The splitting section splits the reflected light beam into: a first main light beam transmitted through the first main region; a second main light beam transmitted through the second main region; a first sub-light beam transmitted through the first sub-region; and a second sub-light beam transmitted through the second sub-region.

Abstract: An optical head device includes a focusing optical system for focusing a laser beam emitted from a semiconductor laser light source on an optical information medium with an objective lens. A chromatic aberration correction element for correcting chromatic aberration occurring in the objective lens is provided between the semiconductor laser light source and the optical information medium. A light distribution correction element in which the transmittance increases with the distance from the center of the aperture surface of the objective lens is provided so as to correct a reduction of the intensity of the light incident on the aperture surface of the objective lens with the distance from the center of the aperture surface.

Abstract: A complex objective lens composed of a hologram and an objective lens, capable of realizing stable and high-precision compatible reproducing/recording of a BD with a base thickness of about 0.1 mm for a blue light beam (wavelength ?1) and a DVD with a base thickness of about 0.6 mm for a red light beam (wavelength ?2). In an inner circumferential portion of the hologram, a grating is formed, which has a cross-sectional shape including as one period a step of heights in the order of 0 time, twice, once, and three times a unit level difference that gives a difference in optical path of about one wavelength with respect to a blue light beam, from an outer peripheral side to an optical axis side. The hologram transmits a blue light beam as 0th-order diffracted light without diffracting it, and disperses a red light beam passing through an inner circumferential portion as +1st-order diffracted light and allows it to be condensed by an objective lens.

Abstract: The type of a disc is determined by detecting focus error signals and the amount of returned light while emitting light with a wavelength such as infrared light which maximizes the focal length and moving an objective lens in the direction of an optical axis. If the S shape and AS immediately after the surface are greater than those at the surface, the optical disc is determined to be an optical disc with a largest capacity. It is determined whether or not there is a reflective layer at a depth equal to or less than 0.1 mm. If there is no reflective layer thereat, it is determined whether or not there is a reflective layer at a depth of 0.6 mm. If there is a reflective layer thereat, the type of the reflective layer is determined based on TE and RF signals with blue light. If the blue light is not adaptable to the layer, red light is emitted, and replay of the recording layer at a depth of 0.6 mm is performed.

Abstract: The present invention provides a first light source (21) that emits light of a first wavelength, that at least either records onto or reproduces information from an information recording medium (30), a light source (22) that emits light of a second wavelength that records onto or reproduces information from an information recording medium (33), a light source (23) that emits light of a third wavelength that records onto or reproduces information from an information recording medium (23), focusing means, an optical element (28) that passes light of the first wavelength and diffracts light of the second and third wavelengths, wherein the optical element (28) is an optical element in which grooves are formed in a substrate, wherein the expression: 380 nm?(n?1)×d?420 nm is satisfied, where n is a refractive index of the substrate at a wavelength of 400 nm, and d (nm) is a depth per step of the grooves, and wherein the grooves are formed in two steps of depth d and depth 2d.

Abstract: A data transfer system transfers original data from a first data storage device to a second data storage device. The transfer system includes a compressor, an encryptor, and a controller. The compressor receives the original data from the first data storage device, generates compressed data of a smaller size, and passes the compressed data to the second data storage device. The encryptor makes a predetermined cryptographic key and passes the key to the second data storage device. The encryptor also receives the original data from the first data storage device, encrypts the original data with the cryptographic key and then sends the encrypted data back to the first data storage device. The controller controls the compressor and the encryptor and gives the first data storage device a first erase instruction, telling the first data storage device to erase the original data, in accordance with a first transfer command.

Abstract: An optical head is provided that increases the light utilization efficiency and that can be adapted to high-speed recording and double-layer disks. A beam-shaping lens that shapes an elliptical beam emitted from a light source into a substantially circular beam has a pair of cylindrical surfaces that are curved in the same direction. The cylindrical surface that is closer to the light source is an aspherical surface, and the cylindrical surface that is closer to the light source is a spherical surface. Thus, an optical head is obtained, with which aberrations can be kept low, even when the beam-shaping magnifying power is about a factor 2.