Laser printer optics with use of slant scanning of multiple beams

Simultaneous scanning of multiple beams in an array is an effective method to realize high-speed and high-resolution printers. The arrayed multiple beams can be generated by devices such as grating, Wollaston prism, fiber array, and laser diode array. In any of these devices, the focused spots in an array have a period several tens of times larger than the spot diameter. We propose a simultaneous scanning method suitable for these devices in which the arrayed multiple beams are arranged in a slant angle to the scanning direction to produce consecutive scan lines. Laser print experiments with two or four beams were carried out, and high-performance printing of a 431.8-mm print width, 23.6 dot/mm (i.e., 600 dot/in.) resolution, and of 541-mm/s speed were realized.