Toner, developer, image forming apparatus, and image forming method

A toner, comprising:

• a binder resin, comprising
• a copolymer resin comprising a structural unit derived from a crystalline polyester resin and a structural unit derived from a non-crystalline polyester resin, such that a molar ratio of a crystalline segment to a non-crystalline segment in the copolymer resin is from 10/90 to 40/60, where the crystalline segment comprises the structural unit derived from the crystalline polyester resin and the non-crystalline segment comprises the structural unit derived from the non-crystalline polyester resin,
• wherein a spin-spin relaxation time (t50) of the toner at 50° C. measured by pulse NMR is 0.05 msec or shorter, a spin-spin relaxation time (t130) of the toner at 130° C. when warmed from 50° C. to 130° C. is 15 msec or longer, and a spin-spin relaxation time (t′70) of the toner at 70° C. when cooled from 130° C. to 70° C. is 1.00 msec or shorter, and
• a binarized image of the toner, which is obtained by binarizing a phase image of the toner observed by a tapping mode AFM based on an intermediate value between a maximum value and a minimum value of phase difference in the phase image, includes first phase difference images constituted by portions having a large phase difference, and a second phase difference image constituted by a portion having a small phase difference, such that the first phase difference images are dispersed in the second phase difference image, and that a dispersion diameter of the first phase difference images is 150 nm or less.