Patent ID: 7952975

Claim:
An optical reproduction device that reproduces a hologram which is recorded on an optical recording medium by interference between a signal light and a reference light coaxial to the signal light, the device comprising: a light source that emits coherent light; a light distribution unit that distributes the coherent light emitted from the light source to a signal light optical path and a reference light optical path; a spatial light modulator comprising a plurality of pixels arrayed two-dimensionally, a signal light region that displays a signal light pattern when generating signal light, and a reference light region that displays a reference light pattern when generating reference light coaxial to the signal light, the spatial light modulator modulating and outputting incident light for each pixel in accordance with a displayed pattern; a first irradiation optical system that spatially separates light distributed to the reference light optical path and light distributed to the signal light optical path, makes optical axes of both lights coincide, and irradiates both lights onto the spatial light modulator; and a second irradiation optical system that irradiates the reference light generated at the reference light region of the spatial light modulator onto the optical recording medium as a reading light, and reproduces signal light that is recorded in the hologram.