Sony develops Blu-ray, DVD and CD compatible recording/playback optical head

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" Sony has developed a single 3-wavelength recording/playback optical head, capable of recording and playing-back 3 formats, Blu-ray Disc (BD), in addition to DVD, CD, which is a high-density optical disc system capable of recording/playing back high definition contents.

BD is an optical disc system capable of recording and playing-back HD contents from, for example, HD broadcasting.

In the newly developed 3-wavelength recording and playback optical head, the main characteristics are its capability to record/playback the 3 formats, BD, DVD and CD with one single optical head.This is achieved by the introduction of the newly developed single unit 3 wavelength laser, and also an object lens corresponding to the 3 wavelengths.

In the single unit 3 wavelength laser, by combining production techniques of high-level output blue-violet laser diode and processing precise alignment of multiple laser units, single packaging is realized. In the object lens, introduction of aspherical glass and hologram lens to achieve spherical aberration correction, corresponding to each wavelength enables one series of optical system to deal with 3 wavelengths.

Sony will target commercializing the newly developed 3-wavelength optical head within 2 years, and will positively promote to further technology development. By doing so, in addition to further reducing the number of parts used for achieving smaller size of optical heads, enhancement of productivity and reliability will be achieved. This will contribute to the BD market expansion by realizing BD related key devices to be utilized in various AV and IT products.

Sony continues to further positive research and development aiming at less than two years of commercialization of a three-wave optical head."