Monolithic optical pickup and an assembly including the pickup with laser source(s) and optical detector(s)

An optical pickup system (200), comprising:

• (a) a carrier (202);
• (b) at least one laser source (204) carried on said carrier (202);
• (c) a plurality of detectors (206) carried on said carrier (202);
• (d) a monolithic optical pickup (100) mounted adjacent to said at least one laser source (204) and said plurality of detectors (206), the monolitic optical pickup comprising:
• a transparent substrate (104) having a first surface (102) and a second surface (103) which is substantially parallel to said first surface, and
• a metalized layer (122) applied to said first surface, said metalized layer defining one or more image creation apertures and a plurality of return path lenses on the same first surface of the transparent substrate, the image creation apertures being configured in an outgoing light path from the at least one laser source to form images on a surface of a data storage medium and the return path lenses being configured in a return light path to focus a reflection of the created images onto the plurality of detectors.

An optical pickup system (200), comprising:

• (a) a carrier (202);
• (b) at least one laser source (204) carried on said carrier (202);
• (c) a plurality of detectors (206) carried on said carrier (202);
• and
• (d) a monolithic optical pickup (100) mounted adjacent to said at least one laser source (204) and said plurality of detectors (206), said monolithic optical pickup (100) including a transparent substrate (104) having a first surface (102) and a second surface (103) which is substantially parallel to said first surface, wherein said first surface (102) includes one or more image creation apertures and a plurality of return path lenses, the image creation apertures being configured in an outgoing light path from the at least one laser source to form images on a surface of a data storage medium and the return path lenses being configured in a return light path to focus a reflection of the created images onto the plurality of detectors.

An method of making optical pickup system (200), comprising the steps of:

• (a) obtaining a carrier (202);
• (b) mounting at least one laser source (204) on the carrier (202);
• (c) mounting a plurality of detectors (206) on the carrier (202);
• and
• (d) mounting a monolithic optical pickup (100) adjacent to said at least one laser source (204) and the plurality of detectors (206), the monolithic optical pickup (100) including a metalized layer (122) defining one or more image creation apertures and a plurality of return path lenses on the same first surface of the transparent substrate, the image creation apertures being configured in an outgoing light path from the at least one laser source to form images on a surface of a data storage medium and the return path lenses being configured in a return light path to focus a reflection of the created images onto the plurality of detectors.

A method of making an optical pickup system (200), comprising the steps of:

• (a) obtaining a carrier (202);
• (b)mounting at least one laser source (204) on the carrier (202);
• (c) mounting at least one detector (206) on the carrier (202);
• and
• (d) mounting a monolithic optical pickup (100) adjacent to said at least one laser source (204) and the at least one detector (206), the monolithic optical pickup (100) including a transparent substrate (104) having a first surface (102) and a second surface (103) which is substantially parallel to the first surface, wherein the first surface (102) includes one or more image creation apertures and a plurality of return path lenses, the image creation apertures being configured in an outgoing light path from the at least one laser source to form images on a surface of a data storage medium and the return path lenses being configured in a return light path to focus a reflection of the created images onto a plurality of detectors.

An optical pickup system (200), comprising:

• (a) a carrier (202);
• (b) at least one laser source (204) mounted on said carrier (202);
• (c) a plurality of detectors (206) mounted on said carrier (202);
• and
• (d) a monolithic optical pickup (100) adjacent to the laser source (204) and the at least one detector (206), said monolithic optical pickup (100) comprising a complete optical system incorporated into a single surface of a transparent wafer, the single surface including one or more image creation apertures and a plurality of return path lenses, the image creation apertures being configured in an outgoing light path from the at least one laser source to form images on a surface of a storage medium and the return path lenses being configured in a return light path to focus a reflection of the created images onto the plurality of detectors.