Optical head device that prevents the displacement of the optical axis caused by expansion or contraction due to temperature change
View Patent ↗An optical head device including a photo detector and an optical system which converges a laser beam emitted by a laser light source onto an optical recording medium and also guides a returning beam from the optical recording medium to the photo detector. The optical head device further includes a base on which the laser light and the photo detector are mounted. An optical element is mounted on the base via an optical element holder which has the same linear expansion coefficient as that of the base and is fixed with adhesive directly to the base. The optical element is fixed on a surface which is perpendicular to a device optical axis of the element holder.
1. An optical head device comprising:
a laser light source;
a photo detector;
an optical system which converges the laser beam emitted by said laser light source onto an optical recording medium and guides the returning beam from said optical recording medium to said photo detector; and
a base on which said optical system, said laser light source and said photo detector are mounted;
wherein said photo detector is mounted directly on a face of said base which is orthogonal to an optical axis of the photo detector;
wherein said optical system has an optical element which is mounted on said base via an optical element holder;
wherein two positioning surfaces are formed on a mounting portion of said base for said optical element such that said two positioning surfaces are parallel to the optical axis of the photo detector and an optical axis of said optical element and intersect with each other, said optical element holder being equipped with two mounting surfaces which respectively contact with said two positioning surfaces;
wherein said optical element holder is made of material composed of a material having the same linear expansion coefficient as that of said base and is fixed with adhesive directly to said base; and said optical element is fixed on a surface, wherein the surface is positioned on an orthogonal plane to the optical axis;
wherein the optical element is surface bonded with an adhesive on a surface of the optical element holder which is orthogonal to the optical axis; and
wherein the optical element holder is positioned by abutting the two mounting surfaces with the two positioning surfaces of said base so that the optical axis of the photo detector and the optical axis of said optical element are maintained in an aligned state.
2. The optical head device as set forth in claim 1 ,
wherein said two positioning surfaces are orthogonal to each other.
3. The optical head device as set forth in claim 2 ,
wherein the two mounting surfaces and the orthogonal plane of the optical element holder are orthogonal to each other.
4. The optical head device as set forth in claim 3 ,
wherein said optical element is a focus-error detecting lens through which the laser beam reaches the photo detector.
5. The optical head device as set forth in claim 3 ,
wherein the base is an aluminum base and the optical element holder is a PPS resin which is prepared to have substantially the same linear expansion coefficient as that of said aluminum base.