Optical pickup apparatus

An optical pickup apparatus in which an arrangement and adjustment of optical elements is easy. The optical pickup apparatus includes a light source to emit laser light; a beam splitter to change the travel path of incident light; an objective lens to condense light passed through the beam splitter to form a light spot on an optical recording medium; and a photodetector to receive light reflected from the optical recording medium and then passed through the beam splitter to detect an information signal and an error signal. The optical pickup apparatus further includes a grating for diffraction-transmitting incident light; a wavelength plate to change polarization characteristic of incident light; and an optical output compensating lens to compensate output of light incident from the light source. The grating, the wavelength plate, and the optical output compensating lens are disposed on an optical path between the light source and the beam splitter. At least two of the grating, the wavelength plate, and the optical output compensating lens are formed in one body.