The minimum spot size for a coherent beam is limited by the numerical aperture (NA), which is a function of the converging angle for the marginally focused rays (rays on the outer edges). Current focus systems achieve a high converging angle for the marginally focused rays by placing the objective lens as close to the media as possible. Consequently, any system wherein the final focus is accomplished over a distance is problematic because the converging angle of the outer rays become too small and the spot on the medium becomes too large.
Current optical media players that include focus systems operate generally as shown in
An analysis of the converging beam shows that the rays on each edge of the objective lens do not differ much in converging angle, but that there is an opposing wavefront established between the rays on one edge and the rays on the other edge. This is demonstrated by occluding (painting) the center of an existing objective lens and nonetheless establishing a small spot size.
Thus, rays with the highest converging angle are most desirable and this angle is increased as lens 310 is moved closer to medium 300, and consequently the size of spot 360 is reduced. The high converging angle of rays 330 of
The ability to establish a high converging angle for opposing groups of wavefronts is desirable, as would be the case for a center occluded lens, but it is currently not possible to maximize NA when the objective lens is relatively far from the media. The ability to continuously vary the exact beam placement along the horizontal axis in which the converging behavior is being controlled, is desirable and is made possible when the objective lens is relatively far from the media.
The present invention is a numerical aperture device and method. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a beam from a light source is caused to contact a numerical aperture (NA) plate or device. The NA plate has a first surface, a second surface, and an internal area. The first surface splits the beam into two twin rays and directs the twin rays into re-direction elements within the first surface of the NA plate. The two twin rays are directed in opposite directions from each other such that they traverse a specific distance through the internal area of the NA plate before striking the second surface of the plate. In one embodiment, the specific distance is approximately equal to and/or equal to the anticipated distance of the NA plate from the medium. The second surface of the NA plate is structured such that the twin beams are again re-directed. As the twin beams leave the NA plate's second surface they converge together and meet at the location of the medium to produce a spot.
Since the beams have been re-directed through the NA plate, the twin beams are similar to the converging angle of beams at the outer edges of a closely placed objective lens. The NA plate, however, may be positioned at an arbitrary distance from the medium. Typically, the horizontal distance in which the twin beams travel between the first and second surfaces of the NA plate are directly related to the distance away from the medium the NA plate is positioned.
The present invention is a numerical aperture device and method. New configurations have been developed where tracking and focusing techniques have been enhanced in such a manner that the optical head apparatus need not be very close to the medium to operate effectively, and in fact it is advantageous for the optical head apparatus, in certain scenarios, to be farther away from the medium (disc) for enhanced functionality. One such system is described in connection with a co-pending patent application entitled “Low Seek Time Optical Disc Tracking System”, filed on Dec. 22, 2004, and having application Ser. No. 10/905,231, (the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference).
In the “Low Seek Time Optical Disc Tracking System” it was described how to perform tracking in an optical media player without using a radially moving sled and/or a rotating medium (disc). In another co-pending patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Differing Focus Between At Least Two Dimensions”, filed on Feb. 16, 2005, and having application Ser. No. 10/906,364, (the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference) it was described how to improve focus from a distance in an environment, for instance, where tracking is performed without the need for a sled and/or a rotating medium.
The above disclosures provide two examples of where it is advantageous to minimize the size of a spot produced on a medium, yet still be flexible enough to place the optical head farther from the medium, have the medium remain stationary, and/or eliminate the radial sled motion in the optical head apparatus. Many more examples exist. In general, the present invention applies in any environment where an optical head apparatus performs a focusing operation, in order to impinge a spot from a light source on a medium. One such example is described in connection with
In
The re-collimating lens 415 makes the beam 406 narrow but mostly straight. Because of the operation of the re-collimating lens 415, the beam 406 converges in one dimension to be very small (e.g., one track) at the surface of the medium 400. In the other dimension the beam 406 ends up being larger (e.g., many spots wide) by the time it hits the optical element 425. The larger size may comprise the equivalent of several track widths. The re-direction assembly 420 deflects the beam 406 widely along a given path to a specific location on the medium 400 that is continually selectable in the radial dimension. The optical element 425 converges the beam 406 in the axial dimension and allows and/or assists the beam 406 to continue converging in the radial dimension, resulting in a small, focused circular spot upon the medium 400 that has a fixed axial location and a continuously scannable radial location. The final focusing job performed by the optical element 425 affects essentially the axial focus only, leaving the radial focus unaffected and free to continue to converge onto the medium 400 at closer to the same angle it had prior to contacting the optical element 425.
Thus
The beam 506 reflects off medium 500 and follows the same path, eventually returning to a reflector 530, which causes the beam to enter optical receptors 550. Signals output from optical receptors 550 are used in tracking block 570 and focusing block 580 to adjust optical head 510 as appropriate in a feedback loop. NA plate 525 is configured to transform beam 506 into first and second beams 590 and 591 that are diverted by 90 degrees in opposing directions and then 90 degrees again before leaving NA plate 525 and converging onto medium 500 taking advantage of opposing wavefronts as shown in
The NA plate has a first and second surface typically comprising a series of re-directing devices.
An incoming beam 840 strikes one of the plurality of micro-prisms on first surface 810. In this instance, redirecting device 870 is first contacted by beam 840 on its upper surface 850 of prism 880 in a direction perpendicular to upper surface 850. Consequently, beam 840 is split into two twin rays 841a and 841b and directed to strike mirrors 890 and 891 and into adjacent and oppositely oriented reflector prism 881. The two twin rays 841a and 841b are directed in opposite directions from each other (and 90 degrees apart from each other) as they exit a lower surface 860 of prism 881 and into interior area 830.
The two twin rays are directed in opposite directions from each other (and 90 degrees apart from each other) such that as they traverse a specific distance through the interior 830 before striking the second surface 820 of the NA plate 800 at other redirecting devices. In the embodiment of
The second surface 820 of the NA plate 800 is structured such that the twin beams 841a and 841b are again re-directed at 90 degree angles via the combination of micro-prisms and mirrors. In this instance, redirecting devices 871 and 872 use prisms 873, 874, 875, and 876 and mirrors 877 and 878 for a 90 degree redirection. As the twin beams leave the second surface 820 of the NA plate 800 they converge together and meet at the location of beam stylus 899 on the medium 801 to produce a spot.
Since the beams have been re-directed through the NA plate 800, the twin beams 841a and 841b are similar to the converging angle of beams at the outer edges of a closely placed objective lens. The NA plate, however, may be positioned at a distance from the medium. By the converging of the twin beams 841a and 841b one from a left group and one from a right group upon a certain point in a certain focal plane shown as beam stylus 899, an opposing wavefront is established. To the extent to which the focal plane of the right angle convergence matches the focal plane of the long distance convergence, there is a high NA wavefront convergence effect characteristic of the “hollow beam” from a center-occluded objective lens close to the media.
Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in
As such, opposing ray groups traverse the diverging distance from the primary redirecting optical element 1000 toward a secondary redirecting optical element 1010, the opposing ray groups attain significant distance from each other (along the dimension of opposition) by the time they reach the secondary redirecting optical element 1010. The opposing ray groups are then redirected by the secondary redirecting optical element 1010 in direction 1050, toward the vicinity of a single location (along the dimension of opposition) on the optical medium in order to form at least one spot 1060.
Since the opposing ray groups have diverged significantly from each other in the dimension of opposition as they traversed the diverging distance, the converging of the two groups at a reconverging angle creates an opposing wavefront composed of rays at a very high angle of incidence (from the axis that in at least one dimension is significantly central to the average of all rays striking the media surface), resulting in a very high value for the NA. This very high angle of incidence shall herein be called the synthetic convergence angle.
Since the synthetic convergence angle is essentially uniform across the dimension of opposition, there is a continuous tracking capability whereby the incoming beam can track in essentially a continuously variable fashion across the dimension of opposition. This is shown in
The NA plate need not be a permanently fixed structure. In one embodiment, the NA plate is actively maintained at the optimum distance from the spinning media (albeit in a slower servo loop than present focus loops) to minimize the gross focus error between the long distance convergence of rays within the same left or right group, and the right angle convergence (synthetic convergence angle) of the left group with the right group.
The material that establishes the distance within the NA device may be piezo-electric or otherwise electro-convulsive, such that for high frequencies the fine focus can be adjusted between the focal planes established by the long distance convergence and the synthetic convergence angle. An internal or external device may flex the NA plate such that rather than (or in addition to) having the internal distance changed, it would warp to achieve a particular momentary synthetic convergence angle.
The NA plate may be a standard part of the media, such that all units that write and read such media would be designed to interface with media that is covered with the device. This would guarantee a minimum focus error between the focal planes established by the long distance convergence and the synthetic convergence angle. The NA device is shown in a two dimensional form. The third dimension can be applied in various ways:
The NA plate may operate upon a beam with no long distance convergence. In such a case the primary optical device and secondary optical device may operate on a line (or grid) of beam target locations, or upon sectors thereof. In any case, the incoming beam may be split prior to entry into the primary optical device, to facilitate the distribution of rays into “opposing ray groups” (the groups producing opposing wavefronts) for groups of rays, target spot sized beams (in at least one dimension), or even single rays.
A beam concentrating optical device may precede the primary optical device, such that the beams which would normally be lost by not entering one of primary optical device's active portions (places of ray entry where such rays end up included in any group of opposing ray groups creating synthetic convergence) can instead be concentrated so as to enter the active portions of primary optical device. Such beam concentrating optical device may comprise one or more beam concentrating optical elements.
The reflective surfaces (or refractive boundaries) of the primary optical device and secondary optical device may be curved as shown in element 1210 of
There may be additional optical incidence adjusting device(s) prior to the primary optical device, (at least functionally) between the primary optical device and the secondary optical device, or (at least functionally) between the secondary optical device and the optical media. Such additional optical incidence adjusting device(s) may be serve a variety of purposes including but not limited to: adjustment of wavefront phase, beam shaping, beam sharpening, beam dilating, focus adjustment, beam spot target sectorization (the gathering of incoming rays or ray groups into distinct locational groupings upon the primary optical device, upon the secondary optical device and or upon the optical media), fine tracking (see requirement above), aspect ratio control and spot size control.
The function of the NA plate may be divided across more than one device, where there is no direct connection between the primary optical device and the secondary optical device. There may be a diagonal covering, as shown in element 1340 of
Notable Benefit: The present invention reduces the minimum spot size for the same laser operating without the present invention. Since the minimum spot size=0.6*780/NA, changing the NA from 0.53 to 1.0096 cuts the IR spot size down from 883 nM to 427 nM (up to 2.5 gig on a 120 mm disc with smaller track pitch.) Blue Ray already uses a 0.85 NA so a 1.0096 NA yields a 44% increase in potential density. Moreover, the ability to focus so small from a distance, allows extremely fast tracking and seeking mechanisms to be utilized without sacrificing in the parameter of spot size.
Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. Thus the scope of this invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
The present application claims priority to the provisional patent application entitled SYNTHETIC NUMERICAL APERTURE DEVICE AND METHOD, Ser. No. 60/521,380, filed on Apr. 14, 2004.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60521380 | Apr 2004 | US |