Optical: systems and elements – Lens – Including a nonspherical surface
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-11
2004-10-19
Thompson, Tim (Department: 2873)
Optical: systems and elements
Lens
Including a nonspherical surface
C359S718000, C369S044230
Reexamination Certificate
active
06807017
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an objective lens for an optical disk that focuses a light beam from a light source on an information recording surface of the optical disk such as a digital video disk, a digital audio disk or an optical memory disk for a computer, and an optical head device using the same.
BACKGROUND ART
In optical head devices for optical disks, a single lens having an aspherical surface commonly is used as an objective lens for recording information or reproducing recorded information by focusing a light beam onto a diffraction-limited spot on an information recording surface of the optical disk.
In the following, a conventional optical head device will be described, with reference to an accompanying drawing.
FIG. 7
schematically shows a configuration of the conventional optical head device. As shown in
FIG. 7
, a light beam emitted from a semiconductor laser
151
is subjected to a change in direction of its optical path by a beam splitter
152
, and turned into substantially parallel light by a collimator lens
153
. The direction of the optical path of this light beam further is changed by a mirror
154
for bending the optical path, then this light beam is focused on an information recording surface
157
of an optical disk
156
by an objective lens
155
. This objective lens
155
is driven by an actuator
160
. The light beam that has been focused on the information recording surface
157
of the optical disk
156
is diffracted by roughness formed on the information recording surface
157
. The light beam that has been reflected and diffracted by the information recording surface
157
of the optical disk
156
passes through the objective lens
155
, is subjected to the change in the direction of the optical path by the mirror
154
for bending the optical path, passes through the collimator lens
153
, the beam splitter
152
and a cylindrical lens
158
, and is focused on a photo detector
159
. Based on an electric signal of the photo detector
159
, the change in light quantity that has been modulated by the information recording surface
157
of the optical disk
156
is detected, thereby reading data on the information recording surface
157
.
In the objective lens
155
, a wavefront aberration may be generated because of a manufacturing error during manufacturing. This wavefront aberration theoretically can be divided into aberration components of a third-order spherical aberration, a third-order coma aberration, a third-order astigmatism and a high-order aberration.
Among these aberration components, the third-order coma aberration can be avoided by designed by forming a lens surface of the objective lens
155
to have a rotationally symmetric aspherical surface. However, in reality, decentration (displacement amount in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis) between a first surface
161
of the objective lens
155
on a parallel beam side and a second surface
162
thereof on a focusing side and tilt (inclination with respect to a surface perpendicular to the optical axis) of the first surface
161
of the objective lens
155
, the second surface
162
thereof, or both surfaces are generated during manufacture and serve as predominant factors in generating the third-order coma aberration. Out of these two factors, the third-order coma aberration that is caused by the tilt is proportional to substantially the third power of NA (numerical aperture) of the objective lens
155
.
In general, when a lens is inclined with respect to an optical axis, the third-order coma aberration is generated. Thus, by adjusting the angle of inclination, the generated third-order coma aberration can cancel out the third-order coma aberration due to the manufacturing error. For this purpose, the objective lens
155
of the optical head device is inclined during an assembly process of the optical head device, so as to reduce the third-order coma aberration. Such an operation is called “a tilt adjustment,” and this angle of inclination is called “a tilt adjustment angle.”
In recent years, an increasingly higher recording density has been achieved as seen in DVDs (digital video disks) or DVD-RAMs, for example. The key to achieving the densification is how small a spot can be formed on an optical disk, and it is known that the spot diameter can be reduced by increasing the numerical aperture of the lens. Accordingly, in order to achieve higher density, the numerical aperture of the lens gradually has become larger and larger, and now is 0.6 in DVDs. For a further densification, the numerical aperture has to be 0.6 or larger. Considering a manufacturing error during the manufacture of the lens or an assembly error during assembling on the optical head, lenses are designed conventionally so that the generation of decentration of the first surface and the second surface of the lens does not increase aberration and that the incidence of abaxial light does not increase aberration. In spite of a great demand, lenses with a larger numerical aperture have not been commercialized yet partly because, though it is easy to reduce only axial aberration in a lens design, it is very difficult to design a single lens having a sufficient tolerance while taking a manufacturing tolerance and an assembly tolerance into account.
Also, when the numerical aperture is raised, the third-order coma aberration that is caused by the inclination of the disk becomes larger. At present, there is a possibility that warping of the disk causes the inclination of about 0.5°, which generates the third-order coma aberration of about 70 m&lgr; in an optical system with a numerical aperture of 0.6 and a focal length of 3.0 mm. In order that a spot is sufficiently small and reproducible in a DVD system, the third-order coma aberration is required to be not larger than 70 m&lgr;. Thus, when considering the above-described third-order coma aberration generated by the inclination of the disk and the third-order coma aberration generated by the manufacturing error and the assembly error, it is impossible to record and reproduce data in this system.
When the lens having a numerical aperture of larger than 0.6 is designed by the design technique as described above, a satisfactory design is not possible because the aberration due to the decentration and the aberration due to the abaxial light generally are in an inversely proportional relationship. In other words, the lens becomes very difficult to manufacture or assemble. Also, when an optical disk is inclined with respect to an optical axis due to the warp of the disk or the like, a great deal of the third-order coma aberration is generated, so that it becomes impossible to record or reproduce data in this system.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The present invention is made in order to solve the conventional problems described above, and it is an object of the present invention to propose a new design concept for achieving a lens with a large numerical aperture and to provide an objective lens for an optical disk that has a large numerical aperture and is easy to manufacture and assemble, and an optical head device. It also is an object of the present invention to provide an objective lens for an optical disk and an optical head device that can compensate for performance deterioration due to an inclination of the disk.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, the present invention has the following configuration.
An objective lens for an optical disk according to a first structure of the present invention focuses a light beam from a light source. A third-order coma aberration generated when the objective lens is inclined at a unit angle (for example, 0.5°) is larger than a third-order coma aberration generated when the optical disk is inclined at the same unit angle (for example, 0.5°). The objective lens is mounted on an actuator for inclining the objective lens according to an inclination amount of the optical disk.
With the first structure, the third-order coma aberration generated by the inclination of the optical disk can be corre
Sasano Tomohiko
Tanaka Yasuhiro
Yamagata Michihiro
Merchant & Gould P.C.
Thompson Tim
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