Patent ID: 7483345

Claim:
An optical pickup apparatus capable of compensating for thickness deviation of a high-density optical recording medium, the optical pickup apparatus recording or reproducing data from the optical recording medium that has a signal recording surface on a substrate, comprising: a light source generating and emitting light beams; a collimator lens collimating the emitted light beams from the light source into collimated beams; a beamsplitter enabling a part of the collimated beams to pass therethrough; an objective lens system, placed on an optical path between the beamsplitter and the optical recording medium, focusing the collimated beams from the beamsplitter, the objective lens system comprising a solid immersion lens which has a planar surface facing the substrate of the optical recording medium, with the substrate being interposed between the planar surface of the solid immersion lens and the signal recording surface; a light-receiving module receiving the light beam reflected from the optical recording medium and converting it into electrical signals; a focus control unit generating a focus control signal for focus control, in response to the electric signal from the light-receiving module; a position adjustment unit, connected to the light source or the collimated lens, making the light source or the collimated lens shift in response to the focus control signal generated from the focus control unit; and, an air gap control unit for maintaining a distance between the solid immersion lens and the optical recording medium, independent from the focus control signal generated from the focus control unit, wherein the beams from the beamsplitter enter the solid immersion lens, and are then focused through the substrate onto the signal recording surface.