OPTICAL SCANNER, LIGHT INTENSITY CONTROLLER, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND LIGHT INTENSITY CONTROL METHOD

• Main Author: UNO MASAMI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 02.07.2009
• Subjects: CINEMATOGRAPHY; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; LINING MACHINES; MAGNETOGRAPHY; OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION; PRINTING; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS; STAMPS; TRANSPORTING; TYPEWRITERS

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a light intensity controller that controls light intensity with high accuracy without reducing light quantity and that easily and that quickly compensates light quantity even in the occurrence of change in light quantity by abnormality of a light-emitting element in a surface-emitting semiconductor laser. SOLUTION: In an electronic photographic process using a surface-emitting semiconductor laser, exposure is controlled spacially and timewisely without spectroscoping light beams by an optical system. In other words, the optical system is configured so that the light flux near both ends of the return mirror is not changed in the optical path in the direction of a photoreceptor when a light flux is emitted from the surface-emitting semiconductor laser to a polygon unit to reach a return mirror through the optical system. Then, the light flux with no optical path changed is defined as the light flux outside an image security region on the photoreceptor, with two photodetectors for light quantity control arranged on the light flux. COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT