Patent ID: 7764576

Claim:
An optical information recording and reproducing apparatus comprising: a light source for emitting a light beam; a head unit, including an objective lens and a solid immersion lens, for allowing a light beam from the light source to reach an optical recording medium as evanescent light; a photodetector configured to detect returning light that returns from a bottom surface of the solid immersion lens for detecting a gap and a tilt between the optical recording medium and the solid immersion lens, the photodetector having a first section and a second section, along a direction in which the returning light is moved in the photodetector, when the solid immersion lens is driven in a tracking direction with respect to the optical recording medium, an area of the returning light in the first section and an area of the returning light in the second section is constant, even when the solid immersion lens is driven in the tracking direction, wherein the photodetector is divided into two halves in the direction in which the returning light is moved when the solid immersion lens is driven in the tracking direction, and has divided sections that are parallel to the direction in which the returning light is moved, the divided sections being disposed inside the inner circumference of the returning light in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the returning light is moved; and a tilt control circuit configured to control the tilt on the basis of a light intensity obtained by the photodetector.