Patent attributes
A plurality of light-emitting elements 9a, 9b, 10a each emitting laser beam of a wavelength of approximately 405 nm, approximately 660 nm or approximately 780 nm corresponded to each of a plurality of types of disc-formed medium 100, and an objective lens 18 condensing each laser beam emitted from the plurality of light-emitting elements so as to form an elliptic beam spot on a recording surface of the disc-formed recording medium are provided, wherein a long axis of a beam spot of the laser beam having a wavelength of approximately 660 nm is aligned in a direction 45° to 65° away from the tangential direction of the disc-formed recording medium, and a long axis of a beam spot of the laser beam having a wavelength of approximately 405 nm is aligned in a direction 25° to 45° away from the tangential direction of the disc-formed recording medium. With this configuration, it is made possible to improve performance of reading information signals with respect to different types of disc-formed recording media without increasing the cost.
