Keiji KATAOKA^1,*, Yasuyuki SHIBAYAMA¹ and Koji DOI²

¹Research and Development Laboratory, ²Printer System Group, Hitachi-Koki Co. Ltd., 1060, Takeda, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, 312-8502 Japan

(Received January 26, 2001; Accepted April 26, 2001)

We have developed laser printer optics using various kinds of multiple beam generation devices, such as a polarization prism, grating, diode laser array, and optical fiber array. Recently we successfully demonstrated laser-print experiments using five beams from an optical fiber array. In the array, fibers are arranged with a spacing of 0.15 mm and emit circular Gaussian beams that have a diameter of 5 μm and a wavelength of 635 nm. The wavelength of diode lasers is determined from sensitivity of the photoconductor drum of As₂Se₃ material. The arrangement error vertical to the array is mostly suppressed below 0.4 μm. In the optics, curve of scan lines and print position errors in the scan direction are suppressed to a negligible size due to minimization of the magnification variation in the sub-scan direction along the print width and achromatized design, respectively.

Key words : laser printer, optical fiber array, multiple beam, slant scanning, scanning lens

kataoka@hitachi-koki.co.jp