The present invention relates to a coaxial type apparatus for reading from and/or writing to holographic storage media with multiple reference beams. The invention further relates to a beam generator and a filter for use in such an apparatus. According to the invention, in an apparatus for reading from and/or writing to a holographic storage medium, with a coaxial arrangement of three or more focused reference beams and an object beam or a reconstructed object beam, the foci of the focused reference beams are arranged on a circle around the object beam in a Fourier plane of the apparatus. A beam generator generates the three or more reference beams from an incoming reference beam. A filter low-pass filters the object beam and rotates the polarization of the three or more reference beams.