Image forming apparatus and scanning unit to scan a target surface using light fluxes

Abstract

A scanning unit in an image forming apparatus includes a light source, a coupling lens, an aperture, an image forming lens, and a polygon mirror. The light source includes a plurality of surface-emitting lasers. The coupling lens, the aperture, and the image forming lens are arranged on the optical path of light beams emitted by the light source. The polygon mirror deflects light beams of an image formed by the coupling lens towards a photosensitive drum for scanning. The focal length of the image forming lens in a sub-scanning direction is set to be equal to or smaller than an optical path length between the image forming lens and the aperture.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A scanning unit that scans a scanning target surface by using light fluxes, the scanning unit comprising:
 a light source having a plurality of surface-emitting lasers each emitting a light beam; 
 a coupling lens that receives the light beams from the light source and renders the light beams as substantially parallel light; 
 an aperture that receives the parallel light and defines a diameter of the parallel light thereby obtaining a diameter-defined parallel light; 
 an image forming lens that receives the diameter-defined parallel light and forms an image in a sub-scanning direction; and 
 an optical deflector that is arranged close to a focal point of the image forming lens, and that receives light beams of the image and deflects the light beams for scanning a target surface, wherein 
 a focal length of the image forming lens in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than an optical path length between the image forming lens and the aperture, and 
 a beam diameter of the diameter-defined parallel light in the sub-scanning direction is equal to or smaller than a beam diameter of the diameter-defined parallel light in the main scanning direction but greater than a distance between adjacent scanning lines, for all image heights. 
 
     
     
       2. The scanning unit according to  claim 1 , wherein a focal length of the coupling lens is greater than an optical path length between the coupling lens and the aperture. 
     
     
       3. The scanning unit according to  claim 1 , wherein
 an absolute value of lateral magnification in a main scanning direction is more than an absolute value of lateral magnification in the sub-scanning direction. 
 
     
     
       4. The scanning unit according to  claim 1 , wherein
 each of the surface-emitting lasers emits a linearly-polarized light beam, 
 an absolute value of lateral magnification in the main scanning direction is more than an absolute value of lateral magnification in the sub-scanning direction, and 
 an angle between a polarization direction of the linearly-polarized light beam and the main scanning direction is greater than an angle between the polarization direction and the sub-scanning direction. 
 
     
     
       5. The scanning unit according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the surface-emitting lasers are arranged in a two-dimensional array such that M number of the surface-emitting lasers (M≧2) are arranged along the sub-scanning direction and N number of the surface-emitting lasers (N>M) are arranged along a direction of a tilt angle α between the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, and 
 a distance between adjacent light-emitting members, when orthographically-projected on a virtual line extending in the sub-scanning direction, is equal. 
 
     
     
       6. The scanning unit according to  claim 5 , wherein at least one of outermost light-emitting members in the two-dimensional array emits a greater amount of light than remaining light-emitting members. 
     
     
       7. The scanning unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of surface-emitting lasers include a quantum well layer having a compressively strained structure such that a high optical output can be achieved at a low threshold. 
     
     
       8. An image forming apparatus comprising:
 at least one unit of an image carrier; and 
 at least one scanning unit including:
 a light source having a plurality of surface-emitting lasers each emitting a light beam; 
 a coupling lens that receives the light beams from the light source and renders the light beams as substantially parallel light; 
 an aperture that receives the parallel light and defines a diameter of the parallel light thereby obtaining a diameter-defined parallel light; 
 an image forming lens that receives the diameter-defined parallel light and forms an image in a sub-scanning direction; and 
 an optical deflector that is arranged close to a focal point of the image forming lens, and that receives light beams of the image and deflects the light beams for scanning a target surface, wherein 
 wherein a focal length of the image forming lens in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than an optical path length between the image forming lens and the aperture, and 
 wherein the scanning unit scans the image carrier with a plurality of light beams having image information, and 
 a beam diameter of the diameter-defined parallel light in the sub-scanning direction is equal to or smaller than a beam diameter of the diameter-defined parallel light in the main scanning direction but greater than a distance between adjacent scanning lines, for all image heights. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the image information is color-image information for forming a color image. 
     
     
       10. The scanning unit according to claim 1, wherein
 the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than the beam diameter in the main scanning direction such that the beam diameter in the main scanning direction is at least 1.2 times the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction.   
     
     
       11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein
 the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than the beam diameter in the main scanning direction such that the beam diameter in the main scanning direction is at least 1.2 times the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction.   
     
     
       12. A scanning unit comprising:
 a light source having a plurality of surface-emitting lasers each emitting a light beam;   an optical deflector that receives light beams from the light source through a pre-deflection optical system and deflects the light beams for scanning a target surface; and   a scanning optical system that focuses the deflected light beams, wherein   an absolute value of lateral magnification in a main scanning direction is more than an absolute value of lateral magnification in a sub-scanning direction, and   the pre-deflection optical system and the scanning optical system are configured to satisfy the following condition that a beam diameter of the light received by the optical deflector in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than a beam diameter of the light received by the optical deflector in the main scanning direction but greater than a distance between adjacent scanning lines, for all image heights.   
     
     
       13. The scanning unit according to claim 12, wherein the pre-deflection optical system includes an aperture. 
     
     
       14. The scanning unit according to claim 13, wherein
 a focal length of the coupling lens is greater than an optical path length between the coupling lens and the aperture, and   a focal length of the image forming lens in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than an optical path length between the image forming lens and the aperture.   
     
     
       15. The scanning unit according to claim 12, wherein
 each of the surface-emitting lasers emits a linearly polarized light beam, and   an angle between a polarization direction of the linearly-polarized light beam and the main scanning direction is greater than an angle between the polarization direction and the sub-scanning direction.   
     
     
       16. The scanning unit according to claim 12, wherein
 the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than the beam diameter in the main scanning direction such that the beam diameter in the main scanning direction is at least 1.2 times the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction.   
     
     
       17. An image forming apparatus comprising:
 at least one unit of an image carrier; and   at least one scanning unit including:
 a light source having a plurality of surface-emitting lasers each emitting a light beam; 
 an optical deflector that receives light beams from the light source through a pre-deflection optical system and deflects the light beams for scanning a target surface; and 
 a scanning optical system that focuses the deflected light beams, wherein 
 an absolute value of lateral magnification in a main scanning direction is more than an absolute value of lateral magnification in a sub-scanning direction, and 
 the pre-deflection optical system and the scanning optical system are configured to satisfy the following condition that a beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction of the light received by the optical deflector is smaller than a beam diameter in the main scanning direction of the light received by the optical deflector but greater than a distance between adjacent scanning lines, for all image heights. 
   
     
     
       18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein
 the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than the beam diameter in the main scanning direction such that the beam diameter in the main scanning direction is at least 1.2 times the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction.   
     
     
       19. A scanning unit comprising:
 a light source having a plurality of surface-emitting lasers each emitting a light beam;   an optical deflector that receives light beams from the light source and deflects the light beams for scanning a target surface, wherein   a beam diameter in a sub-scanning direction of the light received by the optical deflector is smaller than a beam diameter in a main scanning direction of the light received by the optical deflector but greater than a distance between adjacent scanning lines, for all image heights, and   at least one of outermost light-emitting members in the two-dimensional array emits a greater amount of light than remaining light-emitting members.   
     
     
       20. The scanning unit according to claim 19, wherein a focal length of the coupling lens is different from an optical path length between the coupling lens and the aperture. 
     
     
       21. The scanning unit according to claim 19, wherein
 an absolute value of lateral magnification in a main scanning direction is more than an absolute value of lateral magnification in the sub-scanning direction, and   a focal length of the image forming lens in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than an optical path length between the image forming lens and the aperture.   
     
     
       22. The scanning unit according to claim 19, wherein
 each of the surface-emitting lasers emits a linearly-polarized light beam,   an absolute value of lateral magnification in the main scanning direction is more than an absolute value of lateral magnification in the sub-scanning direction, and   an angle between a polarization direction of the linearly-polarized light beam and the main scanning direction is greater than an angle between the polarization direction and the sub-scanning direction.   
     
     
       23. The scanning unit according to claim 19, wherein
 the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than the beam diameter in the main scanning direction such that the beam diameter in the main scanning direction is at least 1.2 times the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction.   
     
     
       24. An image forming apparatus comprising:
 at least one unit of an image carrier; and   at least one scanning unit including:
 a light source having a plurality of surface-emitting lasers each emitting a light beam; 
 an optical deflector that receives light beams from the light source and deflects the light beams for scanning a target surface, wherein 
 a beam diameter in a sub-scanning direction of the light received by the optical deflector is smaller than a beam diameter in a main scanning direction of the light received by the optical deflector but greater than a distance between adjacent scanning lines, for all image heights, and 
 at least one of outermost light-emitting members in the two-dimensional array emits a greater amount of light than remaining light-emitting members. 
   
     
     
       25. The image forming apparatus according to claim 24, wherein
 the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction is smaller than the beam diameter in the main scanning direction such that the beam diameter in the main scanning direction is at least 1.2 times the beam diameter in the sub-scanning direction.