Optical scanning device and image forming apparatus

An optical scanning device comprising:

• a plurality of laser emitting portions that emit laser beams;
• a light deflecting unit that deflects and scans, in a main scanning direction, the laser beams emitted from the laser emitting portions;
• an optical path combining unit disposed in a passing direction of a laser beam and between the laser emitting portions and the light deflecting unit, and allowing the laser beams emitted from the laser emitting portions to be matched in the main scanning direction;
• and
• a slit member disposed in the passing direction of a laser beam and between the optical path combining unit and the light deflecting unit, and having diaphragm apertures disposed therein in parallel and in a sub scanning direction, the diaphragm apertures being formed so as to correspond to the laser beams emitted from the laser emitting portions.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of laser emitting portions that emit laser beams;
• a light deflecting unit that deflects and scans, in a main scanning direction, the laser beams emitted from the laser emitting portions;
• an optical path combining unit disposed in a passing direction of a laser beam and between the laser emitting portions and the light deflecting unit, and allowing the laser beams emitted from the laser emitting portions to be matched in the main scanning direction;
• a slit member disposed in the passing direction of a laser beam and between the optical path combining unit and the light deflecting unit, and having diaphragm apertures disposed therein in parallel and in a sub scanning direction, the diaphragm apertures being formed so as to correspond to the laser beams emitted from the laser emitting portions;
• and
• a plurality of photosensitive bodies onto which the laser beams deflected and scanned in the main scanning direction by the light deflecting unit are irradiated and thereby electrostatic latent images are formed, respectively.