Patent ID: 7710847

Claim:
An optical pickup apparatus comprising: a first light source for emitting a first light flux having a wavelength λ 1 (nm); a second light source for emitting a second light flux having a wavelength λ 2 (nm) (λ 2 >λ 1 ); and a light converging optical system including a coupling lens and an objective lens, wherein the light converging system converges a light flux from the first light source onto an information recording surface of a first optical information recording medium through a protective layer having a thickness t 1 so that recording and/or reproducing information is conducted for the first optical information recording medium, and converges a light flux from the second light source onto an information recording surface of a second optical information recording medium through a protective layer having a thickness t 2 (t 1 ≦t 2 ) so that recording and/or reproducing information is conducted for the second optical information recording medium, wherein the first light source and the second light source are arranged so that a distance between the first light source and the coupling lens become optically equal to a distance between the second light source and the coupling lens, wherein a first diffraction structure is provided on an optical surface of the objective lens through which both the light flux of the wavelength λ 1 and that of the wavelength λ 2 pass, wherein the following equation (1) is satisfied when d 1 denotes an average depth of step structures in the optical axial direction of the first diffraction structure, wherein the following equation (2) is satisfied by the chromatic aberration ΔfB of the composite system including the objective lens and coupling lens with respect to the light flux of the wavelength λ 1 , wherein a second diffraction structure is formed on an optical surface of the coupling lens through which both the light flux of the wavelength λ 1 and that of the wavelength λ 2 pass, and wherein the following equation (3) is satisfied when d 2 denotes the average depth of step structures in the optical axial direction of the second diffraction structure: λ1×2/( n 1−1)×1.0 ≦d 1(nm)≦λ1×2/( n 1−1)×1.3 (1) −0.4 ≦ΔfB (μm/nm)+1.29×10 −4 ×f 1×( m 2 −m 1)≦0.1 (2) λ1×2/( n 2−1)×1.0 ≦d 2(nm)≦λ1×2/( n 2−1)×1.3 (3) where m 1 denotes the magnification of the objective lens at the time of recording or reproduction of information using the first optical information recording medium; f 1 indicates the focal distance of the objective lens at the time of recording or reproduction of information using the first optical information recording medium; m 2 shows the magnification of the objective lens at the time of recording or reproduction of information using the second optical information recording medium; n 1 represents the refractive index of the material constituting the first diffraction structure with respect to the light of wavelength λ 1 ; and n 2 represents the refractive index of the material constituting the second diffraction structure with respect to the light of wavelength λ 1 .