the detection circuit the method may further comprise connecting the detection circuit 28 to a control circuit not shown the control circuit may be configured to halt a recording process of the optical recording apparatus when the alarm signal is output by the detection circuit 28 in another embodiment the control circuit may be configured to enable the detection circuit 28 when a recording process of the optical recording apparatus commences and disable the detection circuit 28 when the recording process ends the method may further include connecting a controller to a mechanical shutter of the laser light source and the controller causes the shutter to be open when a recording process of the optical recording apparatus commences and the controller causes the shutter to be closed when the recording process ends the controller preferably allows a time delay after the controller causes the shutter to be open before the controller causes the detection circuit to be enabled and allows a time delay after the controller causes the detection circuit to be disabled before the controller causes the shutter to be closed the adapted apparatus can be used for example in an optical recording device for recording a formatted signal onto a recordable or rewritable optical disc alternatively the adapted apparatus can be integrated in a laser beam recorder for cutting a glass master and the glass master is then used for manufacturing prerecorded optical discs in a format using multiple modulation levels a method for handling laser dropouts in an optical recording process according to an exemplary embodiment will now be described with reference to fig2 and 7 the photodetector 27 in an optical path of light beam l 2 is used to convert the light beam l 2 into a detection signal step s 71 the detection circuit.