Image forming apparatus having multi-beam laser light emitting point pitch identification

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a photosensitive member;
• a scanning optical unit provided with a light source including a laser chip on which a plurality of light emitting points are disposed and configured to emit laser lights from the plurality of light emitting points, respectively, and a deflector configured to deflect each of the laser lights emitted from the plurality of light emitting points into a scanning direction, the scanning optical unit scanning the photosensitive member with the plurality of laser lights deflected by the deflector and forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member;
• a memory means configured to store reference information regarding a light emitting point pitch that is an interval between the plurality of light emitting points on the laser chip, and
• a control portion configured to control the scanning optical unit, the control portion is configured to obtain measurement information regarding the light emitting point pitch, to compare the measurement information with the reference information, and to identify the light emitting point pitch based on a result of the comparison.