Optical pickup for performing recording or reading operation on recording medium having prepits

摘要

An optical pickup for reading information from a recording medium having a plurality of prepits or for recording information onto the recording medium is provided. The optical pickup includes: a light emitting device for emitting a light beam to the recording medium; a dividing device for dividing the light beam reflected by the recording medium into a first divided beam and a second divided beam; an astigmatism producing device for producing astigmatism in the first divided beam; a first light receiving device for receiving the first divided beam from the astigmatism producing device; and a second light receiving device for receiving the second divided beam from the dividing device.