Method and apparatus for optical scanning capable of reducing a dot position displacement and a dot diameter variation

An optical scanning apparatus, comprising:

• a pulse modulation mechanism configured to perform a pulse modulation with respect to input image data to output pulse-modulated image data;
• a laser light source configured to generate a laser light beam in accordance with the pulse-modulated image data output by said pulse modulation mechanism, said laser light beam having a wavelength variation greater than 0.5 nm per one pulse of the laser light beam;
• a light deflecting mechanism configured to deflect the laser light beam generated by said laser light source to convert the laser light beam into a scanning laser light beam;
• and
• a scan-imaging device configured to condensing the scanning laser light beam into a scanning light spot on a surface to be scanned,
• wherein the pulse-modulated image data applied to said laser light source from said pulse modulation mechanism is controlled so that a displacement of dot position and variation in dot diameter caused by the wavelength variations are corrected.

An optical scanning apparatus, comprising:

• pulse modulating means for performing a pulse modulation with respect to input image data to output pulse-modulated image data;
• laser light generating means for generating a laser light beam in accordance with the pulse-modulated image data, said laser light beam having a wavelength variation smaller than 2.0 nm per one pulse of the laser light beam;
• light deflecting means for deflecting the laser light beam generated by said laser light generating means to convert the laser light beam into a scanning laser light beam;
• and
• scan-imaging means for condensing the scanning laser light beam into a scanning light spot on a surface to be scanned.

An optical scanning apparatus, comprising:

• pulse modulating means for performing a pulse modulation with respect to input image data to output pulse-modulated image data;
• laser light generating means for generating a laser light beam in accordance with the pulse-modulated image data output by said pulse modulating means, said laser light beam having a wavelength variation greater than 0.5 nm per one pulse of the laser light beam;
• light deflecting means for deflecting the laser light beam generated by said laser light generating means to convert the laser light beam into a scanning laser light beam;
• and
• scan-imaging means for condensing the scanning laser light beam into a scanning light spot on a surface to be scanned,
• wherein the pulse-modulated image data applied to said laser light generating means from said pulse modulating means is controlled so that a displacement of dot position and variation in dot diameter caused by the wavelength variations are corrected.

An optical scanning method, comprising:

• performing a pulse modulation with respect to input image data to output pulse-modulated image data;
• generating a laser light beam in accordance with the pulse-modulated image data output by said performing step, said laser light beam having a wavelength variation smaller than 2.0 nm per one pulse of the laser light beam;
• deflecting the laser light beam generated by said generating step to convert the laser light beam into a scanning laser light beam;
• and
• condensing the scanning laser light beam into a scanning light spot on a surface to be scanned.

An optical scanning method, comprising:

• performing a pulse modulation with respect to input image data to output pulse-modulated image data;
• generating a laser light beam in accordance with the pulse-modulated image data output by said performing step, said laser light beam having a wavelength variation greater than 0.5 nm per one pulse of the laser light beam;
• deflecting the laser light beam generated by said generating step to convert the laser light beam into a scanning laser light beam;
• and
• condensing the scanning laser light beam into a scanning light spot on a surface to be scanned,
• wherein said performing step controls the pulse-modulated image data to reduce a displacement of dot position and variation in dot diameter caused by the wavelength variations.