Can anyone tell me who makes this type of optical pickup?
I hope I have attached a drawing of it but in case it wasn't successful, it's the type that relies on light reflection rather than a light path interruption. It has the LED and phototransistor both on the same side of the device.
I don't think he's talking about IrDA tranceivers, I think he's talking more about a reflective opto sensor. On this Mouser page check out devices in the package configurations "D" thru "L" ...
Jeff