Patent ID: 8174954

Claim:
An optical information recording and reproducing apparatus to record or reproduce information by irradiating pulsed LD (laser diode) light from a LD light source onto an optical information recording medium, the apparatus comprising: a LD resistance value acquisition unit to acquire information relating to the resistance values of the LD light source in an operating state; a table to store the target resistance values of the LD light source; a resistance value comparator unit to compare the LD light source resistance value in the operating state acquired by the LD resistance value acquisition unit with the target resistance value in the table; and an electrical heating element coupled to the resistance value comparator unit and located relative to the LD light source to heat the LD light source in order to set the resistance of the LD light source in the operating state to a specified value or less when the resistance value of the LD light source from the comparison is higher than the target resistance value.