High-speed and high-definition technology by multibeam scanning in laser printing

Abstract

Multi-beam scanning is the effective method for high speed and high definition in Laser Printing, and there are three systems for this method as follows: (1) Laser Diode (LD) Array system, (2) System for dividing a single light source, (3) System for combining beams of multiple LDs by optical devices. Each of these systems has both advantage and disadvantage, and which one to use among these three depends on application requirements. The third system above allows for the use of conventional LDs and therefore it is low cost and offers a large degree of freedom in selecting light sources. We have already developed a Two LD Prism-based Light Source Unit that uses a prism to combine the beams emitted by two LDs. This system achieves stable optical characteristics with any conventional scanning optical elements. We have further enhanced this system. We have determined an optimum design that includes scanning lens and have developed the Two LD Beam-crossing Light Source Unit which performs multi-beam scanning using two LDs without a prism. In this paper, we report on recent multi-beam-scanning technologies and introduce our newly developed the Two LD Beam-crossing Light Source Unit.