Patent ID: 7916611

Claim:
An optical pickup apparatus comprising: a light source for emitting a light beam; a light receiving unit having a light receiving portion which is partitioned into at least two divided regions, for receiving the light beam emitted, the light receiving unit outputting an output signal of each of the regions in accordance with intensity of the light beam received by the respective divided regions of the light receiving portion; an optical unit for converging the light beam emitted from the light source onto a recording medium on which information is to be recorded, the optical unit further converging a light beam reflected by the recording medium onto the light receiving portion of the light receiving unit; a light blocking unit for blocking, of the light beam being converged on the light receiving portion through the optical unit, a light beam being converged in a predetermined rage including at lease a part of a boundary line formed by adjacent regions of the at least two divided regions; and a light beam splitting unit for splitting a light beam reflected by a recording medium, wherein the light blocking unit comprises a light blocking portion formed in the light beam splitting unit, for blocking light.