Substantially all of the laser light emitted from laser chip(s) 11 toward optical disk(s) 17 may be transmitted through polarizing hologram(s) 13 and may thereafter be transmitted through quarter-wave plate(s) 15, and after being reflected at optical disk(s) 17, may again be transmitted through quarter-wave plate(s) 15 and be incident on polarizing hologram(s) 13. Accordingly, where laser light is transmitted twice through quarter-wave plate(s) 15, the direction(s) of polarization thereof may be rotated by 90 degrees before it is incident on polarizing hologram(s) 13. For this reason, even if laser light is p-polarized when it is transmitted through polarizing hologram(s) 13 from laser chip(s) 11, it may be s-polarized when it is again transmitted through polarizing hologram(s) 13 after being reflected from optical disk(s) 17. Laser light, after being made s-polarized, may be diffracted by polarizing hologram(s) 13, which diffracts only s-polarized light. Light of order .+-.1 produced as a result of diffraction of laser light by polarizing hologram(s) 13 may be incident on photodiode(s) 18.