Patent ID: 6894958

Claim:
An optical system comprising: a light source; an object lens for focusing emitted light from the light source onto an optical recording medium; first optical separating means which is provided between the light source and the object lens and which separates an optical path of reflected light from the optical recording medium, from an optical path of the emitted light from the light source; second optical separating means which separates the reflected light from the optical recording medium via the first optical separating means into a first group of light and a second group of light; and an optical detector for receiving the first group of light and the second group of light; wherein an optical signal strength of the first group of light is larger than an optical signal strength of the second group of light, and wherein the system is constituted such that a tracking error signal by a differential phase method, a tracking error signal by a push-pull method and a data signal recorded on the optical recording medium are detected from the first group of light while a focusing error signal is detected from the second group of light, and wherein the second optical separating means comprises a step-shaped holographic optical element that includes a plurality of four-step units, each of the plurality of four-step units including a first step having a first length, a second step having a second length shorter or longer than the first length, a third step having the first length, and a fourth step having the second length.