Patent ID: 7092321

Claim:
A lens actuator incorporated in an optical head used for an optical disc driven for relative rotation to said lens actuator, comprising: a lens unit including a lens for condensing light onto a target portion in said optical disc and a lens holder for retaining said lens; a stationary member on which an orthogonal coordinate system is represented by a focusing direction parallel to an axis of rotation in said optical disc, a tracking direction parallel to a radius of curvature of said optical disc and a tangential direction perpendicular to said radius of curvature; a first actuator provided between said lens holder and said stationary member, and urging said lens holder in a first direction parallel to said focusing direction; a second actuator provided between said lens holder and said stationary member, and urging said lens holder in a second direction parallel to said tracking direction; a third actuator provided between said lens holder and said stationary member, and urging a predetermined area of said lens holder to rotate about a third direction parallel to said tangential direction; and a plurality of connecting rods formed of elastically deformable material, equivalent to one another from the viewpoint of a strength of materials, and connected between said stationary member and said lens unit in such a manner that the connecting rods are arranged on opposite side surfaces of said lens holder; wherein said third actuator includes two coils respectively fixed to said opposite side surfaces so as to be wound in parallel to said opposite side surfaces and two magnetic pieces fixed to said stationary member so as to be opposed to said two coils, respectively, wherein said two coils are wound about respective centers serving as said center of said predetermined area; wherein said connecting rods are conductive; wherein each of said connecting rods disposed on a first side surface of said lens holder is paired with one of said connecting rods disposed on an opposite side surface of said lens holder to define pairs of connecting rods; wherein each pair of connecting rods is used to supply electric power to one of said actuators and each of said actuators is supplied with electric power by a separate pair of connecting rods; and wherein the connecting rods are symmetrically arranged about a plane formed by the radial and tangential directions.