A hologram recorder includes a light source for emitting a laser beam, a polarizing beam splitter for splitting the laser beam into a recording beam and a reference beam in accordance with a state of polarization, and a rotary polarizer located between the light source and the polarizing beam splitter. The rotary polarizer has the function of optical rotation, whereby a polarization component to be the recording beam is increased from the central portion toward the peripheral portion of the laser beam, and a polarization component to be the reference beam is decreased from the central portion toward the peripheral portion of the laser beam.