A solid immersion mirror (SIM) type objective lens and an optical pickup
employing the same. The objective lens has a first curved surface which
condenses incident light and a second curved surface surrounding the first
curved surface which diverges incident light. A second transmission
surface disposed to face the first transmission surface has an area which
transmits incident light and a first reflection surface surrounding the
second transmission surface which reflects incident light. A second
reflection surface which surrounds the second curved reflects incident
light. The objective lens realizes an NA of 0.7 or more with a single
lens; has a working distance enabling far field recording/reproducing; has
a smaller blocking area than that of the conventional SIM; and generates a
smaller amount of side lobe. Where the objective lens is adopted in an
optical pickup device, generation of jitter during reproduction or cross
erasure during recording is minimized.
