Patent ID: 8213270

Claim:
An optical disk recording apparatus having an optical pickup containing a laser device driven by a laser drive voltage for radiating a laser light having a recording power for performing recording of information onto an optical disk, the optical pickup including a focus servo, the apparatus comprising: a monitor section that monitors the recording power of the laser light and that has a photo detector which receives laser light reflected from the optical disk when the focus servo is enabled; a laser control section that enables the laser device to perform recording while using the monitor section to monitor the recording power of the laser light and while controlling the laser drive voltage, so that the monitored recording power reaches a reference value optical disk prior to starting optical power control (OPC), with the focus servo of the optical pickup enabled so that the laser light reflected from the optical disk partially returns to the laser device and thus the recording power of the laser light emitted from the laser device is affected by the returning laser light; a voltage measurement section that measures the laser drive voltage when the recording power of the laser light reaches the reference value; a calculation section that calculates, when starting the optical power control (OPC) operation before performing actual recording of information, an initial laser drive voltage from the reference value of the recording power and the measured laser drive voltage corresponding to the reference value, the initial laser drive voltage corresponding to a target value of the recording power specified for use in recording of information on an OPC area of the optical disk during the optical power control (OPC) operation; and a main control section that allows the laser control section to set the calculated initial laser drive voltage and to start the recording of information on the OPC area while supplying the laser control section with the target value so that an actual recording power of the laser light promptly reaches the target value during the course of the recording of information on the OPC area.