초록 ▼

Centered monofacet deflector systems having a dipole laser beam scanning pattern (dual scanning beams which propagate in opposite directions) enables both the scan rate and the scan duty cycle of the scanning system to be doubled over deflectors which produce only one beam. The deflector may be a no

Centered monofacet deflector systems having a dipole laser beam scanning pattern (dual scanning beams which propagate in opposite directions) enables both the scan rate and the scan duty cycle of the scanning system to be doubled over deflectors which produce only one beam. The deflector may be a non-disc plane diffraction grating (NPDG) deflector or a dual reflecting cube (DRC) deflector having polarization sensitive beam splitting characteristics. The input beam polarization contains or is generated to contain orthogonally polarized components which are reflected or diffracted to produce one of the dual scanning beams and a transmitted beam through the element and retroreflected with the proper polarization to be deflected at the element to produce the other scanning beam thereby providing the capability of two simultaneous or sequential scan lines for every revolution of the deflector element. The deflector systems are useful for imaging applications, especially on recording media mounted on the internal surface of a drum.

대표청구항 ▼

A beam scanning system for producing a pair of oppositely propagating scanning beams from an input beam which system comprises a polarization sensitive deflector element which is rotatable about an axis and has a surface intersecting said axis, and is oriented with respect to said axis for deflectio

A beam scanning system for producing a pair of oppositely propagating scanning beams from an input beam which system comprises a polarization sensitive deflector element which is rotatable about an axis and has a surface intersecting said axis, and is oriented with respect to said axis for deflection at said element and transmission through said element respectively having first and second polarizations which are in orthogonal relationship of a beam propagating along said axis, means for providing said input beam propagating along said axis with a polarization containing both of said polarizations, and means for retroreflecting said second polarization which is transmitted through said element back to said element with said first polarization whereby one of said pair of beams is provided upon deflection of said first polarization at said element and the other of said pair of beams is provided upon deflection of said retroreflected second polarization at said element.