Heating apparatus

A heating apparatus that heats an elongated film material by irradiating the film material with a laser beam in manufacture of a film-form recording medium, said heating apparatus comprising:

• a film feed mechanism having a film contact surface that contacts with one surface of the film material, the film feed mechanism being configured to move the film material mounted thereon in a longitudinal direction of the film material;
• a laser light source;
• a laser irradiation component disposed opposite the film contact surface, the laser irradiation component being configured to emit a laser beam from the laser light source toward the film contact surface;
• and
• a laser controller configured to control emission of the laser beam,
• wherein the laser irradiation component is configured to irradiate the film contact surface with a laser spot, and
• the laser controller is configured to control the laser irradiation component so that the laser spot moves back and forth at two ends of the film contact surface in a width direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, at a higher speed than at a middle part of the film contact surface disposed between the two ends.

A heating method for heating an elongated film material by irradiating the film material with a laser beam in manufacture of a film-form recording medium, said heating method comprising:

• moving the film material in a longitudinal direction of the film material;
• irradiating the moving film material with a laser spot while moving the laser spot back and forth in a width direction of the film material;
• and
• irradiating two ends of the film material in the width direction with the laser spot so that the laser spot moves back and forth at a higher speed than at a middle part of the film material disposed between the two ends.