Optical pickup and optical disk driving apparatus using the same

An optical disc driving apparatus, comprising:

• a motor which rotates an optical disc;
• an optical pickup which emits a laser beam to the optical disc and detects a laser beam reflected by the optical disc;
• and
• a rotation servo unit which controls a rotational speed of the motor based on an output from the optical pickup, wherein the optical pickup comprises:
• a laser light source which emits a laser beam,
• an objective lens which focuses the laser beam onto a recording layer of an optical disc;
• and
• a light receiving element which receives an optical signal modulated by the recording layer, wherein
• the light receiving element has a sensitivity switching function, and includes an operation mode capable of making address selection of a signal of an individual light-receiving surface while holding the selection of a sensitivity in the sensitivity switching, and outputting the same, and wherein
• the light receiving element further comprises a sensitivity switching signal line which carries out the sensitivity switching, and a switching signal line for switching to the operation mode, wherein an address selection signal line which makes address selection of a signal of the individual light-receiving surface is used also as the sensitivity switching signal line.