It's interesting to know that the optical recording head of a Blu-Ray drive will cost 100,000 yen, just for a sample.
Or at least I thought it was interesting.

On the 27th, Sony announced that they would begin sale of products such as a Blu-Ray disc recording optical head, and other optic-related semiconductors, to begin shipment in early December. The sample price of each device is listed below.

Blu-Ray Record/Playback Optical Head - KES-200A - 100,000 yen
Blue-Violet Laser Ray Detection IC - CXA2700OEM - 2,500 yen
Blue-Violet Semiconductor Laser Driving IC - CXA2691ER - 3,000 yen
Front-end Signal Processing LSI - CXA2686R - 7,500 yen
Encoding/Decoding Digital Signal Processing LSI - CXD9807GG - 5,000 yen

Furthermore, Sony has said "Offering the mainstay devices for Blu-Ray recorders will allow each maker to setup a system they can use. This will simplify the development of each companies' Blu-Ray supporting products, and further support the accelerated spread of the standard."

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-Blu-Ray supporting recording/playback optical head "KES-200A"

This is an optical head that contains a blue-violet semiconductor laser diode with 405nm wavelength, lens, and driving LSI. It focuses o­n the recording surface placed at a depth of 0.1mm o­n the disc's surface, and can record/playback high volume/high density data, and also support dual layer recording.

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-Blue-violet laser ray detection IC "CXA2700OEM"

This is an IC that features a image-sensing element containing both highly sensitive photo diode supporting blue-violet lasers, and low-noise amplifier. It detects light emitted by the semiconductor laser diode as it is bounced off the disc, reading the recorded signal. This IC is packaged with the KES-200A.

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-Blue-violet semiconductor laser driving IC "CXA2691ER"

This is a blue-violet semiconductor laser driving IC containing the "Light Strategy Creation Circuitry," which controls the semiconductor laser using rippled pulses. It is also packaged with the "KES-200A."

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-Front-end signal processing LSI "CXA2686R"

This is an anlog front-end signal processing LSI that will take the analog signal as detected by the blue-violet laser ray detection IC, and convert it to a digital signal using an AD converter. It also contains servo matrix circuitry to generate a control signal to ensure that the optical head is correctly reading the signal from the disc surface.

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-Encoding/decoding digital signal processing LSI "CXD9807GG"

This is a data processing LSI that will process various data necessary for recording to and reading from Blu-Ray discs. In addition to putting out an error correction signal should any occur while recording, it contains circuitry to correct errors while reading.

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Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20040927/sony1.htm

Press Release:
http://www.sony.co.jp/SonyInfo/News/Press/200409/04-050/