OPTICAL RECORDING/REPRODUCING APPARATUS

An optical recording/reproducing apparatus in which a plurality of light beams are divided into main and sub-beams, and are directed onto the disk in order to record or reproduce data in it. On the disk N main beam spots (Qam, Qbm) and sub-beam spots (Qap, Qan, Qbp, Qbn) are arranged as follows. The main beam spots are spaced at the same interval in a radial direction of the disk, the interval being an integral multiple of the track pitch (Tp) of the disk. The sub-beam spots are so arranged that the interval (Rs) of any one of the sub-beam spots and the corresponding main beam spot may be N times the mutual interval (Rm) of the main beam spots. Further, the main and sub-beam spots are arranged at equal radial interval which is a product of the half of the track pitch (Tp) by an odd number. Among the main beam spots, the main beam positioned at an end and the corresponding sub-beam are detected by a substantially two-divided light detector, and a tracking error signal is produced based on the output of the detector. Under the arrangement, favorable tracking error signals are obtained while suppressing adverse effects caused by the inclination of the disk, the difference in the quantity of light among the light beams, etc.