<p>An optical pickup to improve countermeasure capability of a disc by allowing polarized light of a spot on the disc to become elliptically polarized light includes a light source (20) to emit semiconductor laser light, an objective lens (30) to condense the light emitted from the light source and form an optical spot on a disc, and a wave plate (58) which is rotated such that the spot formed on the disc becomes elliptically polarized light.</p>
