Patent ID: 8130623

Claim:
An optical information recording and/or reproducing apparatus, comprising: a focusing unit which generates near-field light and collects the near-field light on an optical information recording medium; a light receiving unit which receives light reflected by the optical information recording medium, and outputs an electric signal according to a quantity of the received light; and a distance control unit which controls a distance between the focusing unit and a light entrance surface of the optical information recording medium, using the electric signal that is output from the light receiving unit, wherein the optical information recording medium has at least N (N is an integer of 3 or greater) number of information layers, and a distance d 0 from the light entrance surface of the optical information recording medium to a first information layer which is most distant from the light entrance surface, and a distance dn from the light entrance surface of the optical information recording medium to an Nth information layer which is closest to the light entrance surface, satisfy the relationship of dn≧d 0 ×(1/25).