Patent ID: 7586826

Claim:
An optical pickup which is compatible with at least one high density recording medium that uses a blue-violet beam and is thinner than a digital versatile disc (DVD), and at least one lower density recording medium, the compatible optical pickup comprising: an optical unit to selectively emit one of a plurality of beams, at least one of which being the blue-violet beam, with different wavelengths onto one of the at least one high density recording medium and the at least one lower density recording medium, and to receive the respective beam reflected from the respective recording medium to detect a reproduced information signal and/or error signal; a light source module comprising first, second, and third light sources to respectively emit the plurality of beams with the different wavelengths, the light source module being a packaged module within the optical unit; and a holographic objective lens to focus the respective beams emitted by the optical unit to a spot on a recording surface of the respective recording medium, the holographic objective lens comprising: a first ring-shaped holographic lens region, and a second holographic lens region located inside the first holographic lens region, wherein depths of holographic patterns of the first and second holographic lens regions respectively produce a first effective numerical aperture (NA) for the at least one high density recording medium and at least one additional effective NA suitable for the at least one lower density recording medium, such that the first holographic lens region has a holographic pattern of etching depths optimized to maximize a transmissivity of the blue-violet beam and minimize a transmissivity of another beam, of the plurality of beams.