Patent ID: 7864651

Claim:
An optical pickup comprising: a first light source that emits a first linearly polarized light beam having a first wavelength; a second light source that emits a second linearly polarized light beam having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength; a drive unit configured to selectively drive the first and second light sources; a first light path along which the first light beam emitted from the first light source travels to an optical disk; a second light path along which the second light beam emitted from the second light source travels to the optical disk, the first and second light paths intersecting somewhere in the middle of the light paths and are combined into a third light path that extends from the intersection to the optical disk; a light path-combining optical element provided at the intersection of the first and second light paths; a light path-separating optical element provided along the third light path, the light path-separating optical element reflecting light with a predetermined reflectance and transmitting light with a predetermined transmittance; a phase difference-imparting optical element provided along the third light path between the light path-separating optical element and the optical disk, the phase difference-imparting optical element imparting a predetermined phase difference to the first and second light beams; and a light receiving element that receives the first and second light beams reflected off the optical disk, guided by the phase difference-imparting optical element, and transmitted through the light path-separating optical element, the polarization direction of each of the first and second light beams incident on the phase difference-imparting optical element having an intermediate angle between the angles of the polarization directions of P-polarized and S-polarized light, wherein the first and second light sources and the light path-combining optical element are located with respect to each other such that each of the first and second light beams incident on the light path-combining optical element is entirely P-polarized or S-polarized light.