Patent ID: 8289819

Claim:
An information reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source that generates linearly polarized light; a medium having a linear tracking mark extending in a scanning direction and a linear data mark extending in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction; an optical head having a first fine aperture for data access and a second fine aperture for tracking; a polarized light control unit that controls the linearly polarized light generated by the light source to pass through the first fine aperture of the optical head to generate first near-field light polarized in the scanning direction and to irradiate the data mark with the first near-field light, and that controls the linearly polarized light generated by the light source to pass through the second fine aperture of the optical head to generate second near-field light polarized in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction and to irradiate the tracking mark with the second near-field light; a detector that detects light scattered by the data mark and the tracking mark irradiated with the first near-field light and the second near-field light, respectively; and a signal processing unit that processes a first output signal from the detector corresponding to the detected light scattered by the data mark and that processes a second output signal from the detector corresponding to the detected light scattered by the tracking mark, the signal processing unit having a control circuit that carries out tracking control in accordance with an intensity of the second output signal and that carries out access control in accordance with an intensity of the first output signal.