Optical pickup device

1. An optical pickup device which selectively records or reproduces a first optical recording medium, and a second optical recording medium having a recording density lower than that of the first optical recording medium and a substrate thickness larger than that of the first optical recording medium, comprising:

a first laser light source which emits a first laser light whose wavelength is not more than 450 nm in accordance with the first optical recording medium;

a second laser light source which emits a second laser light whose wavelength is longer than that of the first laser light in accordance with the second optical recording medium;

an objective lens which has a numerical aperture (NA) set to 0.75 or above for the first optical recording medium, in which at least one of respective surfaces thereof backing onto each other is formed into an aspherical surface, and which converges the first and second laser lights on the respective signal surfaces of the first and second optical recording mediums; and

a phase shift element which is provided between the first and second laser light source side and the objective lens and corrects a spherical aberration generated due to a difference in substrate thickness between the first and second optical recording mediums, wherein the phase shift element has a tiered phase difference pattern portion formed in circular shapes on one surface thereof, the tiered phase difference pattern portion being obtained by continuously connecting an inner circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion with an outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion based on a phase function curve acquired by a single phase-function with a wavelength having the same value as a reference wavelength λ 1 of the first laser light being determined as a designed wavelength λ, a tier pitch of tiers of the inner circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion is set to a height corresponding to a phase difference of substantially 1 λ and, on the other hand, a tier pitch of tiers of the outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion is set to a height corresponding to a phase difference of substantially mλ, where m is a natural number which does not include 0, or a height corresponding to the phase difference of substantially mλ by changing a value of m for each step, the outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion being formed continuously from a lowest tier part of the inner circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion so that tiers thereof gradually rise toward the objective lens from the lowest tier part.

2. The optical pickup device according to claim 1 ,

wherein a second laser light aperture limiting portion which limits a numerical aperture (NA) of the second laser light with respect to the objective lens when the tier pitch of the tiers of the outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion is set to substantially mλ =substantially 1 λ is formed on a reverse side with respect to the outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion of the phase shift element.

3. The optical pickup device according to claim 1 , wherein the tiered phase difference pattern portion of the phase shift element is formed in accordance with the phase function curve so that a spherical aberration can be corrected on a full circumference of a pupil of the objective lens with respect to the second recording medium.

4. The optical pickup device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a chromatic aberration correction element which is arranged between the first laser light source side and the phase shift element and corrects a chromatic aberration.

5. The optical pickup device according to claim 4 ,

wherein the chromatic aberration correction element is arranged to act on the first laser light only.