The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 14, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 29, 2001
Hiroshi Hatano, Osaka, JP;
Kazuyuki Ogura, Osaka, JP;
Akira Sato, Osaka, JP;
Yujiro Suzuki, Osaka, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An optical head has a near-field light generating element generating near-field light; and a beam shaper which shapes an incident beam into a substantially toroidal beam and directs the shaped beam to said near-field light generating element. According to the optical head having the above-described structure, the incident light is shaped into a substantially toroidal beam without being intercepted, incident on the zonal part of the near-field light generating element, and condensed to a minute spot. That is, only the light of the high numerical aperture part is used with efficiency, and the light can be condensed to a minute spot.