Patent ID: 8238219

Claim:
An optical information recording/reproducing device using an optical recording medium having a recording layer in which the polarization state of light can be recorded, comprising: a light source; a light dividing means for dividing light emerging from said light source into a first light and a second light; a light converging means for converging said first and second lights at the same position in said recording layer in the manner that they face each other; a polarization state switching means for switching the polarization states of said first and second lights at the convergence point in said recording layer; a polarization state switching means drive circuit driving said polarization state switching means according to recording data upon recording of information on said optical recording medium; a light irradiation state switching means for switching between the state in which said optical recording medium is irradiated with both said first light and said second light and the state in which said optical recording medium is irradiated with only one of said first and second lights; and a light irradiation state switching means drive circuit driving said light irradiation state switching means in the manner that both said first light and said second light irradiate said optical recording medium as recording light upon recording of information on said optical recording medium and only one of said first and second lights irradiates said optical recording medium as reproducing light upon reproduction of information from said optical recording medium.