An information recording and reproducing apparatus in accordance with the present invention has a radiation light source, a collimator turning a light beam emitted from the radiation light source into substantially parallel light, a light beam convergence member focusing the light beam on an information carrier, a light beam polarization-branching member branching the light beam by polarization, a variable wave plate located between the collimator and the light beam convergence member, photo detectors receiving the light beam branched by the light beam polarization-branching member and outputting a current according to an incident light quantity, and an output level judging member judging whether an output of the photo detectors is larger or smaller than a predetermined value. When the photo detectors receive a small light quantity because the information carrier is highly birefringent, the variable wave plate is switched from a ¼ wavelength plate to a zero-wave plate, thus constantly obtaining a stable reproducing signal with an excellent S/N.