Patent ID: 7889624

Claim:
An optical information recording-reproducing apparatus for effecting at least one of recording of information on and reproducing of information from an optical recording medium, said apparatus comprising: a light source for emitting a light beam; an objective lens and a solid immersion lens for receiving the light beam from the light source and for approaching the optical recording medium at a predetermined speed to focus the light beam onto the optical recording medium; an aperture element for collecting a portion of the light beam that is reflected by the recording medium, the portion of the light beam having a diameter that corresponds to an effective aperture number of the objective lens and the solid immersion lens of less than one; a detecting element for detecting the portion of the light beam collected by the aperture element and for producing an output signal; a speed-generating circuit for receiving the output signal from the detecting element and for determining the speed of approach of the solid immersion lens to the recording medium, in accordance with the output signal, and for producing an output; and a driver circuit for driving the objective lens and the solid immersion lens and for reducing the speed of approach of the solid immersion lens, in accordance with the output from the speed-generating circuit.