Optical pickup apparatus

An optical pickup apparatus comprising:

• a various-purpose luminescent element;
• integrated optical means for guiding an emitted luminous flux of said luminescent element to an optical disk and for separating reflected light from the optical disk;
• light receiving means for receiving light and converting it into an electrical signal;
• and
• coupling means for retaining a positional relationship among said luminescent element, said integrated optical means, and said light receiving means,
• wherein said integrated optical means has outgoing light extracting means for extracting a light beam in an area that does not contribute to reproduction and recording among the emitted luminous flux guided to the optical disk, and
• the light receiving means receives the reflected light from the optical disk and the light extracted by the outgoing light extracting means.

An optical pickup apparatus comprising:

• a various-purpose luminescent element;
• integrated optical means for guiding an emitted luminous flux of said luminescent element to an optical disk and for separating reflected light from said optical disk;
• light receiving means for receiving light and converting it into an electrical signal;
• and
• coupling mans for retaining a positional relationship among said luminescent element, said integrated optical means, and said light receiving means,
• wherein a projection area of said integrated optical means in the direction of the emitted luminous flux is smaller than the projection area of said luminescent element in the direction of the emitted luminous flux,
• an inside diameter of said coupling means is larger than an external configuration of said luminescent element, and
• a position of said coupling means can be adjusted with respect to said luminescent element.

An apparatus for detecting optical power, said apparatus comprising:

• a various-purpose luminescent element;
• integrated optical means for guiding an emitted luminous flux of the luminescent element to an optical disk and for separating reflected light from said optical disk;
• light receiving means for receiving light and converting it into an electrical signal;
• and
• coupling mans for retaining a positional relationship among said luminescent element, said integrated optical means, and said light receiving means,
• wherein said integrated optical means includes outgoing light extracting means for extracting a part of the light in an area around an emitted luminous flux guided to said optical disk, and
• the optical power of said luminescent element is detected on the basis of the light extracted by said outgoing light extracting means.

An optical power detecting method in an apparatus comprising:

• a various-purpose luminescent element;
• integrated optical means for guiding an emitted luminous flux of the luminescent element to an optical disk and for separating reflected light from the optical disk;
• light receiving means for receiving light and converting it into an electrical signal;
• and
• coupling mans for retaining a positional relationship among the luminescent element, the integrated optical means, and the light receiving means,
• wherein the integrated optical means includes outgoing light extracting means for extracting a part of the light of the emitted luminous flux guided to the optical disk, the part of the light being in an area that does not contribute to reproduction and recording, and
• the detection of the optical power proportionate to the luminescent power of the luminescent element is performed by detecting the light, which has been extracted by the outgoing light extracting means, by light receiving means.