Patent ID: 7307938

Claim:
An optical pickup apparatus for accessing an optical recording medium, comprising: a light source unit emitting one of a plurality of laser beams having different wavelengths, the light source unit including a first laser diode emitting a laser beam having a first wavelength and a second laser diode emitting a laser beam having a second wavelength; an optical system focusing said one of the plurality of laser beams, emitted by the light source unit, onto a recording surface of the recording medium; a photodetector unit receiving reflection beams, which are reflected from the recording medium in response to said one of the plurality of laser beams focused by the optical system, to generate detection signals from the received reflection beams; a holographic unit having a first hologram suited to the first laser diode and a second hologram suited to the second laser diode, the first hologram provided to diffract a reflection beam of the laser beam of the first laser diode to the photodetector, the second hologram provided to diffract a reflection beam of the laser beam of the second laser diode to the photodetector, wherein the first hologram and the second hologram of the holographic unit are respectively configured into a first polarizing hologram and a second polarizing hologram; and a common quarter-wave plate provided between the holographic unit and the optical system, and the common quarter-wave plate and the holographic unit being integrally provided in a single optical module.