What is claimed is:
1. An optical scanner comprising:
a light source;
an optical deflector for deflecting the light beam emitted from said light source; and
a scanning optical system for focussing the light beam deflected by said optical deflector on a surface to be scanned, said scanning optical system having a diffracting section and a refracting section;
the illuminance distribution of the light beam being maintained to be substantially uniform on the surface to be scanned by offsetting the change in the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system and the change in the transmittance of the refracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system.
2. An optical scanner according to claim 1, wherein
said light source is so arranged that the sense of polarization of the light beam emitted from the light source causes the change in the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system to be offset by the change in the transmittance of the refracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system.
3. An optical scanner according to claim 1, wherein
said light source is so arranged that the sense of polarization of the light beam emitted from the light source is substantially parallel to the main-scanning section.
4. An optical scanner according to claim 1, wherein, if the angle of view of the scanning optical system is , the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section is Id() for the angle of view and the transmittance of the refracting section is It() for the angle of view , the requirement of
0.8<Id()It()Id(0)It(0)<1.2
is satisfied.
5. An optical scanner according to claim 1, wherein
said light source comprises a semiconductor laser.
6. An optical scanner according to claim 1, wherein
said scanning optical system includes a first optical element having at least a surface operating as refracting section and a second optical element having at least a surface operating as diffracting section.
7. An optical scanner according to claim 6, wherein
said first and second optical elements are made of a plastic material.
8. An optical scanner according to claim 1, further comprising:
an optical system of incident light for focussing the light beam emitted from said light source on the deflecting plane of said optical deflector as a linear image extending in the main-scanning direction.
9. An optical scanner according to claim 8, wherein
said scanning optical system establishes an optically conjugated relationship between the deflecting plane of the optical deflector and the surface to be scanned in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main-scanning direction.
10. An optical scanner according to claim 8, wherein
said optical system of incident light includes a collimator lens for collimating the light beam emitted from the light source and a cylindrical lens for focussing the collimated light beam on the deflecting plane of the optical deflector as a linear image extending in the main-scanning direction.
11. An optical scanner according to claim 1, wherein
said optical deflector comprises a polygon mirror.
12. An optical scanner comprising:
a light source;
an optical deflector for deflecting the light beam emitted from said light source; and
a scanning optical system for focussing the light beam deflected by said optical deflector on a surface to be scanned, said scanning optical system having a diffracting section, a refracting section and at least a reflector mirror;
the illuminance distribution of the light beam being maintained to be substantially uniform on the surface to be scanned by offsetting the change in the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system, the change in the transmittance of the refracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system and the change in the reflectance of the reflector mirror due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system.
13. An optical scanner according to claim 12, wherein
said light source is so arranged that the sense of polarization of the light beam emitted from the light source causes the change in the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system, the change in the transmittance of the refracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system and the change in the reflectance of the reflector mirror due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system to offset each other.
14. An optical scanner according to claim 12, wherein
said light source is so arranged that the sense of polarization of the light beam emitted from the light source is substantially parallel to the main-scanning section.
15. An optical scanner according to claim 12, wherein, if the angle of view of the scanning optical system is , the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section is Id() for the angle of view , the transmittance of the refracting section is It() for the angle of view and the reflectance of the reflector mirror is Ir() for the angle of view , the requirement of
0.8<Id()It()Ir()Id(0)It(0)Ir(0)<1.2
is satisfied.
16. An optical scanner according to claim 12, wherein
said light source comprises a semiconductor laser.
17. An optical scanner according to claim 12, wherein
said scanning optical system includes a first optical element having at least a surface operating as refracting section and a second optical element having at least a surface operating as diffracting section.
18. An optical scanner according to claim 17, wherein
said first and second optical elements are made of a plastic material.
19. An optical scanner according to claim 12, further comprising:
an optical system of incident light for focussing the light beam emitted from said light source on the deflecting plane of said optical deflector as a linear image extending in the main-scanning direction.
20. An optical scanner according to claim 19, wherein
said scanning optical system establishes an optically conjugated relationship between the deflecting plane of the optical deflector and the surface to be scanned in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main-scanning direction.
21. An optical scanner according to claim 19, wherein
said optical system of incident light includes a collimator lens for collimating the light beam emitted from the light source and a cylindrical lens for focussing the collimated light beam on the deflecting plane of the optical deflector as a linear image extending in the main-scanning direction.
22. An optical scanner according to claim 12, wherein
said optical deflector comprises a polygon mirror.
23. An optical scanner comprising:
a light source;
an optical deflector for deflecting the light beam emitted from said light source; and
a scanning optical system for focussing the light beam deflected by said optical deflector on a surface to be scanned, said scanning optical system having a diffracting section, a refracting section and at least an optical filter;
the illuminance distribution of the light beam being maintained to be substantially uniform on the surface to be scanned by offsetting the change in the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system, the change in the transmittance of the refracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system and the change in the transmittance of the optical filter due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system.
24. An optical scanner according to claim 23, wherein
said light source is so arranged that the sense of polarization of the light beam emitted from the light source causes the change in the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system, the change in the transmittance of the refracting section due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system and the change in the transmittance of the optical filter due to the angle of view of said scanning optical system to offset each other.
25. An optical scanner according to claim 23, wherein
said light source is so arranged that the sense of polarization of the light beam emitted from the light source is substantially parallel to the main-scanning section.
26. An optical scanner according to claim 23, wherein, if the angle of view of the scanning optical system is , the diffraction efficiency of the diffracting section is Id() for the angle of view , the transmittance of the refracting section is It() for the angle of view and the transmittance of the optical filter is If() for the angle of view , the requirement of
0.8<Id()It()If()Id(0)It(0)If(0)<1.2
is satisfied.
27. An optical scanner according to claim 23, wherein
said light source comprises a semiconductor laser.
28. An optical scanner according to claim 23, wherein
said scanning optical system includes a first optical element having at least a surface operating as refracting section and a second optical element having at least a surface operating as diffracting section.
29. An optical scanner according to claim 28, wherein
said first and second optical elements are made of a plastic material.
30. An optical scanner according to claim 23, further comprising:
an optical system of incident light for focussing the light beam emitted from said light source on the deflecting plane of said optical deflector as a linear image extending in the main-scanning direction.
31. An optical scanner according to claim 30, wherein
said scanning optical system establishes an optically conjugated relationship between the deflecting plane of the optical deflector and the surface to be scanned in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main-scanning direction.
32. An optical scanner according to claim 30, wherein
said optical system of incident light includes a collimator lens for collimating the light beam emitted from the light source and a cylindrical lens for focussing the collimated light beam on the deflecting plane of the optical deflector as a linear image extending in the main-scanning direction.
33. An optical scanner according to claim 23, wherein
said optical deflector comprises a polygon mirror.
34. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an optical scanner according to any of claims 1 through 33;
a photosensitive member arranged on the surface to be scanned of said optical scanner;
a developing device for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on said photosensitive member as a result of a scanning operation using the light beam into a toner image;
a transfer device for transferring the developed toner image on a sheet of paper; and
a fixing device for fixing the transferred toner image to the sheet of paper.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. The process of making a fine metallic alloy fiber, comprising the steps of:
forming a first and a second metallic alloy component into a composite having a physical configuration suitable for a drawing process;
drawing the composite to reduce the cross-section thereof to provide a fine composite fiber formed from the first and second metallic alloy components;
removing a portion of one of the first and second alloy components from the fine composite fiber to provide a proper volumetric relationship between the first and second metallic alloy components within the fine composite fiber for producing the desired metallic alloy; and
heating the fine composite fiber for converting the first and second metallic alloy components within the fine composite fiber into the desired metallic alloy to provide a fine metallic alloy fiber.
2. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of forming the first and second metallic alloy components into the composite comprises forming the first and second metallic alloy components into a coaxial composite.
3. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of forming the first and second metallic alloy components into the composite comprises inserting the first metallic alloy component within a longitudinal aperture defined in the second metallic alloy component to form a coaxial composite.
4. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of forming the first and second metallic alloy components into the composite comprises inserting the first metallic alloy component within a longitudinal aperture defined in the second metallic alloy component to form a coaxial composite; and
inserting the coaxially composite formed form the first and second metallic alloy components within a longitudinal aperture defined in a third metallic alloy component to form a triaxial composite.
5. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of forming the first and second metallic alloy components into the composite comprises inserting the first metallic alloy component within a longitudinal aperture defined in the second metallic alloy component to form a coaxial composite;
inserting the coaxially composite formed form the first and second metallic alloy components within a longitudinal aperture defined in a third metallic alloy component to form a triaxial composite with the third alloy metallic component being identical to the first metallic alloy component.
6. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of forming the first and second metallic alloy components into the composite includes forming the first and second metallic alloy components into a triaxial composite with the first metallic alloy component being a central component and an outer component and with the second metallic alloy component being an intermediate component of the triaxial composite.
7. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of forming the first and second metallic alloy components into the composite includes forming the composite form a first metallic alloy component and a second preformed metallic alloy component.
8. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of drawing the composite includes successively drawing and annealing the composite to reduce the cross-section thereof to provide the fine composite fiber.
9. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of removing a portion of one of the first and second alloy components from the fine composite fiber includes chemically removing the portion of one of the first and second alloy components to adjust the volumetric relationship between the first and second metallic alloy components within the fine composite fiber to be in accordance with the volumetric relationship required by the desired metallic alloy.
10. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of heating the fine composite fiber includes heating the fine composite fiber in an specialized atmosphere for converting the first and second metallic alloy components into the desired metallic alloy to provide a fine metallic alloy fiber.
11. The process of making fine metallic alloy fibers, comprising the steps of:
forming a first and a second metallic alloy component into a composite having a physical configuration suitable for a drawing process;
drawing the composite to reduce the cross-section thereof to provide a fine composite wire formed from the first and second metallic alloy components;
cladding the fine composite wires with a first cladding material to provide a first cladding;
assembling an array of the first claddings;
cladding the array of the first claddings with a second cladding material to provide a second cladding;
drawing the second cladding to reduce the cross-section thereof to provide an array of fine first claddings with each of the fine first claddings containing a fine composite fiber formed from the first and second metallic alloy components;
removing the second cladding material to provide a first remainder comprising the array of fine first claddings with the fine composite fibers located therein;
removing the first cladding material to provide a second remainder comprising the array of fine composite fibers formed from the first and second metallic alloy components;
removing only a portion of one of the first and second alloy components from each of the array of fine composite fibers to provide a proper volumetric relationship between the first and second metallic alloy components for each of the fine composite fibers within the array for producing a desired metallic alloy; and
heating the array of the fine composite fibers for converting the first and second metallic alloy components within of each of the fine composite fibers into the desired metallic alloy to provide an array of fine metallic alloy fibers.
12. The process of making fine alloy fibers, comprising the steps of:
providing a first metallic alloy component in the form of a wire;
providing a second metallic alloy component in the form of a tube having a longitudinal extending aperture;
selecting the physical dimensions of the first and the second metallic alloy components primarily on the physical configuration suitable for a drawing process and secondarily upon the proper volumetric relationship between the first and second metallic alloy components required for producing a desired metallic alloy;
inserting the first metallic alloy component within the longitudinal aperture defined in the second metallic alloy component to form a coaxial composite;
drawing the coaxial composite to reduce the cross-section thereof to provide a fine composite wire formed from the first and second metallic alloy components;
cladding the fine composite wires with a first cladding material to provide a first cladding;
assembling an array of the first claddings;
cladding the array of the first claddings with a second cladding material to provide a second cladding;
drawing the second cladding to reduce the cross-section thereof to provide an array of fine first claddings with each of the fine first claddings containing a fine composite fiber formed from the first and second metallic alloy components;
removing the second cladding material to provide a first remainder comprising the array of fine first claddings with the fine composite fibers located therein;
removing the first cladding material to provide a second remainder comprising the array of fine composite fibers formed from the first and second metallic alloy components; removing only a portion of one of the first and second alloy components from each of the array of fine composite fibers to provide a proper volumetric relationship between the first and second metallic alloy components for each of the fine composite fibers within the array for producing a desired metallic alloy; and
heating the array of the fine composite fibers for converting the first and second metallic alloy components within of each of the fine composite fibers into the desired metallic alloy to provide an array of fine metallic alloy fibers.
13. The process of making a fine metallic alloy fiber, comprising the steps of:
forming a first and a second metallic alloy component into a composite having a physical configuration suitable for a drawing process;
drawing the composite to reduce the cross-section thereof to provide a fine composite fiber formed from the first and second metallic alloy components;
removing a portion of one of the first and second alloy components from the fine composite fiber to provide a proper volumetric relationship between the first and second metallic alloy components within the fine composite fiber for producing the desired metallic alloy;
applying an isostatic pressure to the first and second alloy components; and
heating the fine composite fiber for converting the first and second metallic alloy components within the fine composite fiber into the desired metallic alloy to provide a fine metallic alloy fiber.
14. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 13, wherein the step of applying an isostatic pressure to the first and second alloy components includes applying an isostatic gas pressure to the first and second alloy components simultaneously with the heating of the first and second alloy components.
15. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 13, wherein the step of applying an isostatic pressure to the first and second alloy components includes applying an isostatic gas pressure to the first and second alloy components.
16. The process of making a fine alloy fiber as set forth in claim 13, wherein the step of applying an isostatic pressure to the first and second alloy components includes applying an isostatic argon gas pressure to the first and second alloy components.