Patent ID: 6914869

Claim:
An optical pickup apparatus for reading information recorded on two types of recording media at different reading wavelengths, comprising: a monolithic light-emitting device having a first light emitting portion and a second light emitting portion which are formed on a single substrate of one chip, said first light emitting portion emitting a first laser beam having a first wavelength, and said second light emitting portion emitting a second laser beam having a second wavelength which is longer than said first wavelength; and an optical system, which is optically connected to said monolithic light-emitting device, for guiding each of the first and second laser beams to the recording medium and for guiding a reflected beam from the recording medium to a photodetector, wherein: said monolithic light-emitting device is so positioned relative to said optical system that a central axis of the first laser beam is closer to an optical axis of said optical system than a central axis of the second laser beam.