Patent ID: 7359295

Claim:
An optical pickup apparatus for reproducing information from an optical disk, comprising: a semiconductor laser applying a beam to the optical disk having two recording layers through an objective lens; and a light receiving device to which light reflected from the optical disk is directed through said objective lens and a beam splitting device, wherein: said beam splitting device has two first light directing areas for directing light to the light receiving device to detect a push-pull signal and a second light directing area for directing light to the light receiving device to detect a focus error signal, and a configuration is provided such that the center of the optical axis of the reflected light in said beam splitting device is made to lie within said second light directing area for directing the light to the light receiving device to detect the focus error signal, and wherein: lines defining said three light directing areas comprise three straight lines, and each of at least two angles formed between respective ones of these lines is more than 90 degrees.