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 first and second phase function curves are respectively obtained based on first and second phase functions 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, then the phase shift element has an inner circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion formed in annular shapes in an inner circular area of one surface thereof based on the first phase function curve and has an outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion formed in annular shapes in an outer circular area outside the inner circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion based on the second phase function curve, and 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 approximately 1λ 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 approximately mλ (where m is a natural number which does not include 0) or a height corresponding to a phase difference of approximately mλ by changing a value of m in accordance with each tier.

2. The optical pickup device according to claim 1 , wherein an offset is given between an overall height of the outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion of the phase shift element and an overall height of the inner circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion of the same by adding to the second phase function a phase difference which is close to an average value of a wavefront generated by the first phase function and which is a substantially integral multiple of the designed wavelength λ, thereby reducing a phase difference between an average wavefront of a light exiting from the inner circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion and a wavefront of a light exiting from the outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion when a wavelength changes in the vicinity of the reference wavelength of the first laser light.

3. 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 1λ is formed on a reverse side with respect to the outer circular side tiered phase difference pattern portion of the phase shift element.

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.