Patent ID: 7145859

Claim:
A compatible optical pickup compatible with first and second recording media having different thicknesses, comprising: a light source which emits first and second lights having different wavelengths, separated a predetermined interval from one another, for the first and second recording media, respectively; an objective lens disposed in an optical path between the light source and a received one of the first and second recording media, which focuses the emitted one of first or second lights to form a light spot on the received one recording medium; a photodetector which receives and detects the emitted one of the first and second lights incident thereon, separated from one another, the first and second lights having passed through an optical path changer after having been reflected from the received one recording medium; an optical path changer to selectively alter traveling paths of incident light proceeding between the light source, the objective lens, and the photodetector; a support member which supports the light source and allows the light source to be linearly and rotatably adjusted with respect to an optical path between the light source and the optical path changer; a grating in the optical path between the light source and the optical path changer and which diffracts the second light emitted from the light source to provide diffracted light beams; and another support member which supports the grating to be linearly and rotatably adjusted with respect to the optical path.