Two plate-like beam splitting device

Abstract

In an optical head, a light emitting element emits an optical beam, and the beam is condensed by a condensing element onto an information recording medium. A first plate beam-splitting element has a splitting ratio of P polarization to S polarization, and it splits at least a part of the beam reflected by the information recording medium along a direction different from that of a direction returning to the light emitting element. A second plate beam-splitting element is provided in parallel to the first plate beam-splitting element, and it splits the beam split by the first plate beam-splitting element into at least two beams having polarization planes perpendicular to each other. The two beams are detected by a pair of photosensors. Because the first and second beam-splitting elements are set in parallel to each other, an optical path from the light emitting element to the information recording medium is separated from that of a reflected beam from the medium with a very small angle, and the optical elements can be located at adjacent positions to each other. Thus, the optical head can be made compact to a large extent. Further, the optical head can be sealed for high reliability.